In Touch with The Mystery (Archive)

Fly While There's Light To Go

2009-04-25T21:58:00.004-06:00

Nothin' but hard times here
The sun keeps sinkin' low
Darkness will soon appear
Fly while there's light to go

...to our new digs @ In Touch With The Mystery

Hope you enjoy and if you'd like to listen to a few of my songs just click on my new home page www.franktrainor.com to hear what's currently up in the media player including my acoustic guitar/vocal demo of my latest song Fly While There's Light To Go. There's 10 songs currently up on the player so you may enjoy the others as well.

Special thanks to those who've linked to this page since FRANKtalk. I've appreciated your kind recognition and support. It's been fun.

And it is my sincere hope you will continue in support of my efforts by replacing this old link at your page with our new one. Whatever you may choose to do for your current scroll, you will always have my gratitude and respect for the honor your links bring to my blog.

We’re kicking it up to another level at In Touch With The Mystery and I welcome you to continue moving forward with us at this time.

It's an historic and unprecedented period in our world today with so many challenges threatening the foundations of western civilization.

It's long past time for choosing sides beyond mere retail politics.
Like it or not we must stand strong in defense of first principles.

I hope and pray that the many may follow but truly the few will gain victory over this troubled hour though the many remain lost forever.

Well...it’ll be dark soon...the night will be pulling the clouds around the stars...stop…hey…what’s that sound…everybody look…moon goin' down baby...north star about to shine...fly while there's light to go...

Heaven's Remains

2009-02-22T03:33:00.012-07:00

The abyss opens up in the centre of your soul. And this abyss of interior solitude is a hunger that will never be satisfied with any created thing. The only way to find solitude is by hunger and thirst and sorrow and poverty and desire, and the man who has found solitude is empty, as if he had been emptied by death. He has advanced beyond all horizons. There are no directions left in which he can travel. This is a country whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. You do not find it by travelling but by standing still. Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity.

Thomas Merton - New Seeds of Contemplation

I was ambitious
My blood was cold water
And my brow poured with sweat when it rained
But the heat that came down on my head never burned
Like my passion for Heaven's Remains

I lived in a mansion
Down south by the beaches
Where the money takes different names
A Porsche in the drive and a porch with a sign that said
Welcome to Heaven's Remains

Where there's nothin' to lose and nothin' to gain
There's nothin' at all but a mournful refrain
Paradise is a song pride aches to recall
Every dream of its own is a far cry from home
Here in Heaven's Remains

When I return
To the ashes and mud
When the dust comes to sleep in my veins
There should be a quote on my tombstone engraved
That says good-bye to Heaven's Remains

Where there's nothin' to lose and nothin' to gain
There's nothin’ at all but a mournful refrain
Paradise is a song pride aches to recall
Every dream of its own is a far cry from home
Here in Heaven's Remains

Desperados Waiting For A Train

2009-02-03T22:20:00.018-07:00

Hey Guy...what's goin’ on man...?

You must be waiting for a train…

I know it takes a lot to laugh...

Naw…I'm just wonderin' why every well I've drilled has gone dry.
I'm always snappin' at the dog & cryin' at the Andy Griffith Show. Whoever said the hand is quicker than the eye has never tried to brush away a tear or ever had his hand burn for a Randall Knife.

Hmmm...I believe you…and trust it’s true

But in the meantime...

I'm gonna start my pickin' right now...

Just tell me where you'll be...

Desperado pointed down the road and said, Eternity!

Eternity…? said Frankie T with a voice as cold as ice.

That's right, said Sam ...Eternity!

Though you might call it Paradise.

I don't call it anything, said Frankie T with a smile.

All right, said Blake, I'll see you after awhile.

What kind of house is this, I said, where I have come to roam?

It's not a house, said Beckham. It's not a house, it's a home.

Chris Gantry, Tony Joe White, Billy Swan, Bob Beckham, Dolly Parton,
Kris Kristofferson - Combine Writers Reunion - photo credit CJ Flanagan

But what was really cool was our CMA week open house...hanging out and diggin' in to fresh New York deli trays flown in special for Sir Charles Koppelman and Marty Bandier...lot of silver limos on the row that week...anyway, we're all hangin' and who walks up to join us but Mickey Newbury and Billy Joe Shaver...and then Stewart Harris asked if I was from Canada and it turned out that he had actually spent an entire summer in the early 70's playing a steady gig in my home province. He worked every other week-end alternating with some other singer who - as it turns out - was me.
We never met because our paths had never crossed but I always wondered just who that other dude was who worked those other week-ends I was off. We met for the very first time 15 years later standing in that Combine/SBK parking lot talking with Guy Clark, Mickey Newbury and Billy Joe Shaver. How about that for mystical coincidence, eh...? Even Robert Earl Keen Jr. thought that story was crazier than Copenhagen. I even played a few of my songs for Billy Joe in the Combine studio. He said; "man...you're tough...!"
Yeah…well, there ain't nobody tougher than you brother Shaver.

What an amazing day...and wasn't that Craig Bickhardt of SKB arriving as I was heading out to my car...sure looked like him.
These days, I'm a fan of Craig's songwriter blog Ninety Mile Wind.

And how about Tony Joe White at the Cockeyed Camel out there in Belle Meade with Steve Cropper & Duck Dunn...those legendary Muscle Shoals / Memphis MG's chompin & stompin and settin' the hook in the swamp with TJW & his Lightnin' Hopkins soul...that's what I'm talkin' about...and later on tuckin' into a big crappie fry at Leanne & Tony Joe's home in Franklin...great folks...very cool.

I was the pilgrim wasted on the sidewalk...

I was also Billy Dee…17 when I turned 21…

It’s a long tough difficult story but I had to beat the devil...

So I jumped a greyhound in ’72 and set off to find Kristofferson.

15 years later, I set my suitcase down at Combine Music.

Music City Row. To keep the chilly wind off my guitar.

Did I sign my contract in Kris Kristofferson's office...?

Is that some kind of a trick question...?

Ain't you come a long way...

Born Toward Dying

2009-01-10T21:10:00.009-07:00

Richard John Neuhaus 1936 - 2009 RIP

We are born to die. Not that death is the purpose of our being born, but we are born toward death, and in each of our lives the work of dying is already underway. The work of dying well is, in largest part, the work of living well. Most of us are at ease in discussing what makes for a good life, but we typically become tongue-tied and nervous when the discussion turns to a good death. As children of a culture radically, even religiously, devoted to youth and health, many find it incomprehensible, indeed offensive, that the word "good" should in any way be associated with death. Death, it is thought, is an unmitigated evil, the very antithesis of all that is good. Death is to be warded off by exercise, by healthy habits, by medical advances. What cannot be halted can be delayed, and what cannot forever be delayed can be denied. But all our progress and all our protest notwithstanding, the mortality rate holds steady at 100 percent.

Born Toward Dying...read the whole thing…

Richard John Neuhaus

National Catholic Reporter

The death of Father Richard John Neuhaus on Jan 8 was experienced here as if a family member had passed away. Such was Father Neuhaus's importance and impact on my own spiritual growth and development. Indeed, a family member did pass on Christmas Eve as there were also a few other deaths and near deaths this Christmas season for our family. My late father's only surviving brother died Dec 24 at the age of 84. His widow's brother then died of cancer the same week. My mother also was rushed to emergency and hospitalized just days before Christmas after collapsing in public. She was treated, placed on intravenous and stabilized to the point that she was able to return home with medication but she's 77 and suffers from other ailments so we were concerned but relieved that she’s alright for now. News was also delivered over Christmas that on old friend from the 1970's Island we once knew in the springtime of our lives had recently died from bone cancer. Her name was "Blue" [see previous post].

On top of all this living and dying in three quarter time came the news that my favorite uncle was scheduled to have his left leg amputated due to critical loss of circulation in the deteriorated limb. The major operation was necessary and according to doctors needed to be done right away but hospital staffing problems postponed surgery almost a week while he suffered in agony and uncertainty regarding his fate. It's all over now, surgery was successful and he's recovering, but a very dramatic time for my uncle John and his loving family. He's 79. Christmas itself was blessed, spirit filled, peaceful and serene this year.

As for me...

You may not like my appearance
May not like my song
May not like the way I talk
But you like the way I'm gone

I'm a Freeborn Man
My home is on my back
I drove every inch of highway
Every bit of backroad
Every mile of railroad track

Git it guys...Freeborn Man...
Tony Rice, Mark O'Connor, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas & Bela Fleck

Here's an intelligent take on quite another Tony that's mighty well worth considering... Father Barron reflects on The Sopranos http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=a5bzImAl5JQ&feature=related

Meanwhile life goes on outside all around you… https://www.watchobsession.org/

Alright...two more for the road...let's kick it with "Frankie Belle"
Rhonda Vincent & The Rage w/guest fiddler Molly Cherryholmes
Josh Williams [acoustic guitar]...man can this guy play...

And as a special dedication for the souls of our dearly departed...
Norman Blake will play us out with his brilliantly nimble, "Salty"

Lastly, from the songwriting pen of a son of a son of a sailor...

And it's dance with me, dance with me
Nautical Wheelers
Take me to stars that you know
Come on and dance with me
Nautical Wheelers
I want so badly to go

Well the sunrise'll bring on
The sleep that's escaped us
And everyone's off to their bed
There'll be huggin' and squeezin'
A little pleasin' and teasin'
And rubbin' of each others' head

So won't you dream on comrades
Seems nothing affects you
Nothing, no reason nor rhyme
Cause everyone here is just more than contented
To be living and dying in three quarter time. - Jimmy Buffet

Blue

2008-12-30T00:34:00.007-07:00

Blue, songs are like tattoos
You know I've been to sea before
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away

Hey Blue, THERE is a song for you
Ink on a pin
Underneath the skin
An empty space to fill in

Well there're so many sinking now
You've got to keep thinking
You can make it through these waves
Acid, booze, and ass
Needles, guns, and grass
Lots of laughs, lots of laughs
Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go
Well I don't think so
But I'm gonna take a look around it though
Blue, I love you

Blue, here is a shell for you
Inside you'll HEAR a sigh
A foggy lullaby
There is your song from me

R.I.P. my old friend - Debbie "Blue" Johnstone Wright
In Memorium - November 20, 1953 - November 11, 2008

Our Lady of Guadalupe

2008-12-01T01:57:00.002-07:00

A great sign appeared in the sky
a woman clothed with the sun
with the moon under her feet
and on her head a crown of twelve stars

She was with child
and wailed aloud in pain
as she labored to give birth

Then another sign appeared in the sky
it was a huge red dragon
with seven heads and ten horns
and on its heads were seven diadems

Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth
to devour her child when she gave birth

She gave birth to a son, a male child
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod

Her child was caught up to God and his throne
the woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God
that there she might be taken care of
for twelve hundred and sixty days

Then war broke out in heaven
Michael and his angels battled against the dragon
The dragon and its angels fought back
but they did not prevail
and there was no longer any place for them in heaven

The huge dragon, the ancient serpent
who is called the Devil and Satan
who deceived the whole world
was thrown down to earth
and its angels were thrown down with it

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

"Now have salvation and power come,
and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed.
For the accuser of our brothers is cast out,
who accuses them before our God day and night.
They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
love for life did not deter them from death.
Therefore, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them.
But woe to you, earth and sea,
for the Devil has come down to you in great fury,
for he knows he has but a short time."

When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth
it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child

But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle
so that she could fly to her place in the desert
where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of
for a year, two years, and a half-year

The serpent however spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth
after the woman to sweep her away with the current

But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth
and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth

Then the dragon became angry with the woman
and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring
those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus

I took my position on the sand of the sea (Revelation: Chapter 12)

Death Wish Part 2 - Father Corapi - (Part 1 here)

Our Lady of Guadalupe @ Sancta (complete comprehensive site)

Beautiful - Schubert's Ave Maria - Andrea Bocelli

House Of Four Doors

2008-11-06T20:13:00.010-07:00

Mystery spread it's cloak
Across the sky
We'd lost our way

Shadows fell from trees
They knew why

Then through the leaves a light broke through
A path lost for years lead us through

House of Four Doors
I could live there forever

House of Four Doors
Would it be there forever?

Loneliness, the face of pilgrims eyes was known
As the door opened wide

Beauty they had found before my eyes to see
To the next door we came

Love of music showed in everything we heard
Through the third door where are we?

Enter in all ye who seek to find within
As the plaque said on the last door

Walking thru that door
Outside we came
Nowhere at all

Perhaps the answers here
Not there anymore

Then in our hearts the light broke through
A path lost for years is there in view

House of Four Doors
You'll be lost now forever

House of Four Doors
Rest of life, life's forever.

Yes, "The One" really is The Manchurian Candidate

Interview with Soviet intellectual dissident Yuri Bezmenov (1985)

Question - Why do we never get an answer...?

It's not the way that you say it when you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it when you tell me what will be

Smoke Stack Lightnin'

2008-10-13T15:54:00.008-06:00

Oh, the train I ride on

All day it shines like gold

Just like gold

There ain't nothin' you can tell me I don't already know

I got a rocket in my pocket and I'm ready to go

Aw, the Moon Goin' Down, baby, North Star 'bout to shine

Lord, I ain't gonna stop ridin'...gotta get on down the line

Highwater risin'...risin' night and day

All the gold and silver bein' stolen away

It's tough out there...highwater everywhere

When In Rome

2008-09-21T03:14:00.005-06:00

(Roman martyrdom: Caravaggio’s The Crucifixion of St Peter, 1601)

Dr. Scott Hahn, Founder, President and Chairman of the Board of The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, is one of the world's most successful Catholic authors and teachers.

He earned his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Marquette University, writing his dissertation on “Kinship by Covenant: A Biblical Theological Analysis of Covenant Types and Texts in the Old and New Testaments.” His scholarly writing has appeared in Journal of Biblical Literature, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, and Currents in Biblical Research.

Dr. Hahn is the general editor of the Ignatius Study Bible and is author or editor of more than 20 books, including Letter and Spirit: From Written Text to Living Word in the Liturgy (Doubleday 2005); Understanding the Scriptures (Midwest Theological Forum, 2005), and The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth (Doubleday, 1999). He has more than one million books and tapes in print worldwide.

Dr. Hahn holds the Chair of Biblical Theology and Liturgical Proclamation at Saint Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and is Professor of Scripture and Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

In 2003, Dr. Hahn became the first lay person to hold the Pio Cardinal Laghi Chair for Visiting Professors in Scripture and Theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. He has also lectured and served as adjunct faculty at a variety of diocesan and Vatican-sponsored seminaries and institutions of higher learning, including the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and the Pontifical University, Regina Apostolorum, both located in Rome.

Dr. Scott Hahn - The Authority of the Church of Christ - Part 1

Dr. Scott Hahn - The Authority of the Church of Christ - Part 2

Full Curriculum Vitae and Publications

Academic Articles (full content)

Books by Scott Hahn

Audio Visual Resources by Scott Hahn

Selected Short Essays on Biblical Theology

When In Rome - Nickel Creek

14 Days In June

2008-07-17T00:04:00.028-06:00

When the tide comes rushin' in
Floodin' over everything
Who can say what the sea's sweepin' in
Or what it's washin' away

Frank Trainor / When The Tide Comes Rushin' In / Grace & Gravity

~Ebbtide~
I came ashore in the dead of the night to rock once more the tiny Island cradle in the waves where I'd been born. I drove the dirty country miles from the nowhere point I'd nested and strayed on through the dawn to my hometown and the church where my father's funeral had been. The door opened minutes before I'd arrived. At long last my soul, sweet sojourn. Repose. Sanctuary.

An old man, frail, barely noticeable, was sitting in a back pew, whispering his prayers. Otherwise we were both alone with God.

We nodded to each other respectfully. Who knows, he might have been a father. Praying for his son? Perhaps, he was a son.

I went directly over to the Tabernacle and knelt in silent prayer before our Lord. I'm A Spirit Now came to mind. He reassuringly intimated that Truth is Truth even if no one believes it and error is error even if everyone believes it. I know one thing for certain. God isn't true because I believe. I believe because God is Truth.

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind, down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves, the haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach, far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow, yes to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, with all memory and fate, driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget about today until tomorrow.- [Bob Dylan]

Tomorrow is a long time and our days are so short, I guess we always want to extend our time 'cause we're in love with time.

I visited his grave as I would many times over 14 days in June.

We would often drive out to the graveyard together when I was a young boy, to visit at his parent's and oldest brother's graves.

All three family members had been killed in a single car accident in 1953. Dad never worried too much about the future after that 'cause as he always used to say, someday he'd be dead and gone.

And now, he's dead and gone.

~Walkin' The Dog~
Back inside my lease I turned my wheels slowly into one of my old childhood neighborhoods. I've got many old neighborhoods in my memory as my family moved constantly when I was a boy calling 9 different addresses home between ‘54 &‘66. This was route ’66.

Navigating a labyrinth of memory haunting ghosts amidst deathly quiet early morning streets, I encountered an old musician friend back again in the hood and out walking his dog in the rain. I pulled up to the sidewalk and jumped out to greet him. He was surprised to see me as it’d been years since we'd caught up.

He hadn't heard about my dad and expressed sympathies.

His father was in his 80's too but doing fine he'd said.

That same week the old man died.

~Sisters Of Mercy~
I felt prompted to visit Jesus again in the Blessed Sacrament so I called on the Sisters of Saint Martha Nuns at Mount Saint Mary's convent and they were only too happy to invite me to prayer in their chapel. I had first encountered the Living Truth through a young girl named Loretta Martin from Ann Arbor, Michigan who was speaking at a Charismatic Renewal retreat there years ago.

I hadn't been back to the convent since. But, in 1972, I had been dragged to that retreat kicking and screaming by my parents who were desperate to find anybody who could help get me off drugs.

They got me to the sermon at the mount, but I decided before going that the only way I could possibly endure such a boring ordeal was to be in full acid peak mode which is where I was at when sweet Loretta Martin prayed over me and invoked God's power to restore my sanity. My world was transformed that night.

The full effects of that powerful acid along with the hard core damage of years of crystal meth abuse were instantly blown away and my life changed forever in that defining moment. I moved to Ann Arbor soon after to live and work among the community there which was founded by Loretta's brother Ralph Martin whom you may know from EWTN as well as through his Renewal Ministries.

My own youthful fervor for the emotionally charged spirit of the Charismatic Renewal of the early 1970's has long since grown into a more mature, deeply abiding Catholic Faith, but the Holy Spirit gained many souls through that community, including mine, and I thank God every day for the many gifts I received in Ann Arbor.

I got to thank Him again in the chapel at Mount Saint Mary's where His eternal life renewed its vital purposes in me 36 years ago.

There were more troubled roads I had yet to travel through my difficult later life before finally getting hit upside the head hard enough to wake me up to my own self destructive ego appetites.
The willful spirit in me took awhile to settle down and it’s taken me a lifetime to learn how to master the cosmic dance steps, but at 54 now, the eldest and oldest soul of nine siblings, married 30 years this year, the father of two grown sons, sober for 24 years, I have to say, things turned out not too bad at all. My chops get to be tested under fire again soon too, so, all in all, I'm a lucky man.

~I Am A Rock~
Islanders. Not of the land. Not of the sea. But of the shore.

Here's where the ocean begins or here's where the shoreline ends
It's all in the way you point your view to these things
Maybe I'm wrong or maybe you're not that strong
Either way we'll drown cause it ain't the time
To learn how to swim / When the tide comes rushin' in

Frank Trainor / When The Tide Comes Rushin' In / from the CD Grace & Gravity

~Ninety Mile Wind~
In Touch With The Mystery is the evolution of a blog begun three years ago called FRANKtalk which attempted in its limited scope to blend a variety of topics, including songwriting and the music business, under a banner of goodwill and personal opinion.

Not a dedicated blog for songwriters per se, but something more personal, and yet notionally akin to that sense of purpose at least.

So, I'm pleased to mention that I've recently discovered a great new blog for songwriters which I will recommend very highly to anyone with a serious interest in the craft of songwriting from the perspectives of a pro who truly knows the score. The blog is called Ninety Mile Wind and it is, in my judgment, the best songwriting site you’re likely to read anywhere. Ninety Mile Wind is the brainchild of performing songwriter, Craig Bickhardt.

Craig established himself as a songwriter in the Nashville of the 1980’s eventually becoming a part of the successful recording trio Schuyler, Knobloch and Bickhardt, also known as SKB.

SKB, it should be noted as well, should not be confused with the music publisher SBK [Swid, Bandier, Koppleman] a company I was actually signed to briefly in those same early days in Nashville.

Craig's had many cuts and much laudable success in his career.

An experienced, knowledgeable craftsman with much to offer.

Success as a writer/artist takes real dedication and boundless determination to the creative enterprise. Craig Bickhardt has earned his stripes in Nashville and beyond. Ninety Mile Wind is essential and ought to be required reading for all songwriters.

Check it out and discover Craig's music at www.CraigBickhardt.com

Stone Cold Sober

2008-07-09T19:02:00.011-06:00

Everybody in the funhouse
Says they want out
But we're taking our time
Cause we're in love with time

Whole generations thinking of themselves
As infidels and pop stars
While the bomb loses patience
We line up and just lean against the bar

Stone cold sober
Looking for bottles of love

Caught in the headlights
Wide-eyed and ready to receive
We are the dead life
Locked in dog fights, lost in disbelief

And these dark days
Make the nights seem brighter than they are
So while Fleet Street rolls and the moon glows
In the funhouse the fun starts

Stone cold sober
Looking for bottles of love

Born in the half-light
Of threats and bribes
In a hopeless porn parade
We get the dog's life, tidbits train us

What to wear, what not to say
When you're footloose but you just feel limbless
Life gets in the way
So we get loaded or totally legless
But stay the same

Stone cold sober
Looking for bottles of love

We are the dead life

We are the dead life

We are the dead life

We are the dead life

We are the dead life

John 6:53-58, 66-67 "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.' After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.

Jesus said to the twelve, 'Will you also go away?'"

Stone Cold Sober - copyright - Del Amitri
Still In Love - copyright - Justin Currie

Some Other Sucker's Parade

2008-05-17T00:26:00.029-06:00

Like any organically created environment in the diverse blogosphere, this far flung planet of mine was born of an honest desire to reveal and share a personal vision. I’ve been a singer/songwriter for years so my primary motivations in choosing to approach communicating through this particular medium were not exactly new found impulses.

It’s in my DNA to write and express myself musically in appreciations of so many spaces and places I’ve known in a lotta outta site worlds.

Initial prospects with this site encompassed a hope that my efforts might resonate in ways that would be entertaining at least and yes, perhaps enlightening on some level. For the most part, that creative challenge has continued to inspire sufficient to satisfying my muse.

The longer term picture was never as clearly determined in my mind. Things evolve and change and no one can predict where they'll be in projecting too far ahead with any ephemeral creative indulgences.

What other explorers may discover and ultimately gain from their own voyages and experiences here is completely unknowable to me as well, as I simply have no idea what reading me or listening to my songs and the great songs of many cool artists I post up frequently, holds in real value to most, if anything at all. I dig it all personally.

I've also discovered and learned many valuable things inhabiting this little corner of the universe, so I can only trust that it's a worthwhile experience at the very least for anyone surfing up past the shoreline for a deeper penetration and investigation of the misty atmosphere.

I started out a blank black page glaring fearfully into higher mystical effusions that the darkness below can never begin to comprehend.

I linked, blinked, thinked and cyber navigated innumerable galaxies of worldly knowledge...other worldly philosophical wisdoms...super nova pinnacle summits of false art and commerce...empires of dirt.

In the end, like the little neighbor boy of Frankie Lee, who carried him to his rest, I just walked along, alone, with my guilt so well concealed and muttered underneath my breath…nothing is revealed.

Eventually, the old man, FRANKtalk, arrived home from the forest, unwound his tales, and many gathered round to enjoy the stories and his songs and to wonder at a discourse rooted in the dust of ages.

All was well. All that remained were the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters that would soon be brought into the warmth of ye old fireside hearth conversations, to reminisce about this, to be amazed about that, and pretty soon the net worthy numbers would increase and a black hole star would be born where no such gravity had ever been perceived before. All humanity would be graced by the deep scribal wisdoms of the fabled elder tribesman.

Hmm…well, so much for pipe dreams and pallid reproductions.

Everything changes. Everything passes away. Old stories give way to intrusions of new reality encroaching on all photo static vistas of our longed for earthly paradise otherwise sensed as entropic declination.

Thus, it came to pass that the old man became new and discovered himself to be more truly alive in the shadowy black ink of his long dark night than he could ever have imagined himself to be in the old blinking lights of false new shining stars forever seeking to guide his eyes blindly to where it's at. Where it's at, is where it's always been at. Nowhere. No, what reverberated constantly within the new man's tremulous soul was his own deepening awareness that he had always been, and always would be, born anew only in the age old discovery that he was, and would forever be, In Touch With The Mystery.

What the mystery reveals is multi-faceted. What it speaks to in all dimensions is integrity. Integrity is everything in case you missed it.

So let the outer disorder dissolve yet again in its always fading echoes of dissonance and sonic cacophonies too brutal to subside.

We are gathered here today to revel in excellence and greatness in the idiom of artful pop/rock song craftsmanship that will never die.

Art that never follows the crowd...never seeks mainstream consensus …never needs another’s approval…it’s good to be Not Where It's At...

Yes, we're stuck forever in the eternal present now it seems, living in that long lost metaphysical reality known as Truth, Beauty & Unity.

It's a tough job, but these days nobody else is gonna do it. So let me tell you what it is I know about this stuff. This gig is sanctified man.

Now, I also know that some might think that a song about escape into drink would be a curse to one who had found the devil at the bottom of his glass, barely survived, and lived to tell the tale.

And just for the record, I'm not sayin' I beat the devil, but I drank his beer for nothin' and then I stole his song. And glass…? Hell, I never bothered much with the social formalities...I just drank straight from the bottle…anyway, who cares what the song subject matter is...it's the matter that matters to the subject and the subject in this case is one of the greatest pop/rock master craftsmen of our age and whose talent is of the absolute utmost degree. His name is Justin Currie.

Currie, with his former band Del Amitri, had a big hit record in the mid 90's with a song called Roll To Me which had more hooks than a Mississippi trout line and we'll get to that in just a minute...but first, he's from Scotland, likes to drink a fair bit it seems and he thinks life is basically pointless. But truth itself is deeply inherent in a talent like Justin’s and actually encourages faith in life in deep spiritual ways...his songwriting talent and creative musical genius are on par with Lennon & McCartney and that’s a rare gift to share in any life.

OK...let’s hear it…patience they say is a saintly virtue but hell why should I wait 'til the clouds go rain on some other sucker's parade.

Del Amitri created some of the grooviest pop/rock hit records in the music business if you ask me, so as promised, here's "Roll To Me"... and as I said, this song has more hooks than a Mississippi trout line.

The clip displayed just below [Justin Currie 2007 - Part 3] is part of an extended exploration of Justin Currie's music and career history covered over 3 separate YouTube clips. This segment [part 3 of 3] contains recent songs like No Surrender and Still In Love and I just enjoy the interweaving of some raw video footage, narration and singing performance in this one that captures the spirit of the artist as well as his newer songs. Brilliant stuff, but it's essential to view all 3 of the clips in my opinion in order to get a more insightful glimpse into the music and mind of this very talented artist. I've added links to both of the other clips [Part 1 and Part 2] just below this video.

View Justin Currie 2007 Part 1 here and Part 2 here

Justin Currie seems content enough to be inspired toward continuing artistic success, if not worldwide fame ever again, but his nihilistic view that life itself is pointless is maybe challenged best by the very talents he uses to express his special God given gifts. This is an artist whose work inspires me both as a songwriter and as a singer.

I've grown to appreciate and respect his music more every day.

Hope you enjoy!

Hocus Pocus With Focus

2008-04-28T22:19:00.009-06:00

An unusual rock single hit the American record charts in 1973.

I was living and working in Ann Arbor, Michigan when "Hocus Pocus" by Focus, first impacted upon the collective conciousness. It was pure music madness. I loved it. Especially the yodelling. I'll never forget listening to this very strange bit of prog rock/pop insanity for the first time at a small cafe in Ann Arbor known as The Lamplighter.

Check out the amazing live TV performance of Hocus Pocus below...

The members of Focus as constituted in 1973 included founder and organist/vocalist/flautist, Thijs Van Leer , guitarist, Jan Akkerman , drummer Pierre van der Linden and bassist Bert Ruiter.

You can read all about Focus and the individual players at their respective Wiki pages, but in the meantime, let's hear some truly great prog rock improv genius from this great legendary band.

The clip below is killer and did you know by the way that Alex & Eddie Van Halen were big Focus fans...they're Dutch boys themselves.

Another hit single for Focus was released in the UK the same year.

This one is called Sylvia and what's special about this performance is that it's from the legendary UK program The Old Grey Whistle Test and includes a minute or two of Hocus Pocus near the end along with Thijs van Leer's wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Which is a good idea at any time really when I think about it because, for instance, I may not blog again anytime real soon so in case you're reading this say 8 or 9 months from now and nothing new has been posted, ya'll have a great Yuletide Season and come back ya hear.

Frank's Pool Hall

2008-02-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

You unlock this Door with the Key of Imagination
Beyond it is another Dimension...A Dimension of Sound
A Dimension of Sight...A Dimension of Mind...You're moving
Into a Land of both Shadow and Substance…of Things and Ideas
You've just crossed over into...The Twilight Zone

Hey Frank...the new punchboard come in yet...?

Naw...you wanna play a couple a hands of Kings & Little ones...?

Not right now...who's been around today...anybody?

No…nobody...it’s been quiet...Hendry was in earlier...how many...?...no, wait a sec...yeah…he's still back there.

Anyone around here even know how to play this game Frank..?

I dunno...whatta ya holdin'...?

Who's playin' at the Gallow's Lounge tonight do you know...?

Some old guy...one of the Black Mountain Boys...Full House!

Shuffle...I heard it was some "Doc" Watson guy or somethin'...wonder what kind of music he plays...?

He’s just some Hillybilly from the country...ya in or what?

Hey you remember that other Frank guy who used to come in here years ago, Frank...? You know, the singer...remember him?

I remember one night he got the livin' shit punched out of him in the back alley right behind here...you musta heard about that…?

Boxer put the boots to him for havin’ long hair & sunglasses...

Guess he musta threatened Boxer and the boys with his different style...Five Aces...your deal…you must remember him, Frank...?

That's it...I'm out...you grabbin' a table tonight or what...?

Yeah I guess...give me a tray of snooker balls...and a new chalk too...thanks. Whatever happened to that guy...he left here years ago right...? Yeah...long time ago now...I heard he became some kinda professional something or other...not sure what...never fit in with us around here though...that's all I know...arrogant punk.

Well...that's it for me tonight...guess you're closin' up soon?

Pretty soon I guess...yeah...you want some more coffee...?

Sure Frank...hey, did I happen to mention that Johnny Mac and I
are gonna break in later after you close up and rob you blind?

No you didn't...did I mention that I grabbed every OZ you had stuffed in that old white trash can over by the window and buried them in a secret location...? How do ya like me now, smart guy?

Geez Frank...no wonder you manage to keep this pool hall runnin'
so tight...it's like you got eyes in the backa your freakin’ head.

Yeah...somethin' like that...

Black Is Black

2008-01-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

New York Daily News and EMI Music Offer
Free Exclusive Music Downloads to Readers

The New York Daily News, New York's most read newspaper, and EMI Music, the world’s leading independent music company, have announced an agreement to offer Daily News readers free music downloads from EMI's music catalog. The deal will give Daily News readers the opportunity to download three free songs of their choice from a selection of over 120,000 top tracks... http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13085

"Maybe not a big deal to file-traders, but in the world of major labels, it’s significant. Instead of saying no, instead of locking the music up, suddenly EMI is looking for a way to give back, to engage consumers in music, to hook them, TO GROW THEIR BUSINESS. If this is evidence of the changes Guy Hands has wrought and is wringing, I greatly approve. Instead of saying Prince giving away his CD with the newspaper is killing the industry, EMI is now seeing the wisdom in new marketing ideas. It’s a start." - Bob Lefsetz - http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

And so the new "evolution" of the record business has been made manifest at EMI under new boss Guy Hands and his private equity stakeholders who are now willing and desperate enough it seems, to embrace a future that's already arrived. It's worth noting for the "if you can't beat 'em, join em" turning point it represents for a dying business monopoly that for more than a decade has failed to accept that its vastly outdated model was seriously in need of being overhauled, if not abandoned altogether. A kinder, gentler approach of relational trust with music consumers is therefore now being tested. As Bob Lefsetz says, it's a start.

And about time. It may, however, be too little too late.

Black Is Black...they want their business back...

It's grey it's grey...since you went away...oh oh...

What can they do...cause ah ah ah ah ah...they're feelin' blue

The Biz is feeling blue for sure and no doubt troubled by the fortunes they've seen slip from their greedy grasp into the Limewire night. But the business is finally waking up to the fact that re-establishing its relevancy and viability in today's new technologically advanced world while hoping to win back lost customers begins and ends with being attendant to real music firstly, and to music consumers priorities, not just to the myopic greed that has been the hallmark of the industry for decades.

So they're hurtin' in the record biz these days, but so what...?

As Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos might say..."Hey...you've got your troubles...I got mine pal ok" But you'd better let Paulie know if The Fortunes ever come back...he'll want his juice.

Meanwhile, the conversation in music has changed dramatically this past year. This past 12 months alone we've seen incredible shrinkage in the primacy of powerful corporate brand entertainment media across the spectrum. The real dynamism is 100% on the side of creative artists whose futures will depend on circumventing legacy structures for bolder, uncharted pathways.

As the ongoing effects of radical multi-media hybridization transforms culture, great music will nevertheless thrive as timeless important questions must always be asked, such as... "Hey, Carrie Ann, what's your game now, can anybody play?

If all else fails, and diehard music business beancounters eventually revert back to their default positions of fear and loathing while frantically awaiting their checks to come in the mail, they can always try writing and performing their own songs. In fact, I think a song about a postman bringing their checks and all those love letters from music fans is a cool idea so whadda ya say boys...grab your pens & WAIT...wait a minute…Mr. Postman.

Youtube video clips: Los Bravos [Black Is Black]...The Fortunes [You've Got Your Troubles]...The Hollies [Carrie Ann]...and montage of The Beatles [Please, Mr. Postman]

Into The Mystery

2008-01-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

- Albert Einstein

To know what man can BE is to know that God IS.

You needn't waste your time trying to prove whether God exists.

Man -- yourself -- is the evidence you seek.

You only need to discover the Real Man behind the mask.

Happy the man who identifies firstly with his spiritual substance who thus always remains faithful to himself for he is no longer a distorted mask unaware of his true scope, as is the man enclosed only in accidentality.

To be in touch with the mystery is to be in tune with Truth.

God's name is Mercy. That's where the Great Mystery begins.

"The mind of modern man is a curious mixture of decayed Calvinism and diluted Buddhism; and he expresses his philosophy without knowing that he holds it. Catholics say what it is natural for us to say; but we know what we are saying; therefore it is assumed that we are saying it for effect. He says what it is natural for him to say; but he does not know what he is saying, still less why he is saying it. He is just as partisan; just as much depending on one doctrinal system as distinct from another. But he’s taken it for granted so often that he’s forgotten what it is.

So his literature does not seem to him partisan, even when it is.

But our literature seems to him propagandist, even when it isn't."

- G. K. Chesterton

More indepth illuminations and insights surrounding the mystery can be discovered at my favorite daily blog site One Cosmos - Wandering, Wondering and Blundering Into The Mystery.

Full credit here today to Gagdad Bob for his brilliant insights, immutable Raccoon Logic, and cosmic supernova revelations which inform most of the thrust of today's "mystery" musings.

And now, I hear another Bob a-knockin'...think I'll let him in...

Time Of The Season

2008-01-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

It's the time of the season when the love runs high
In this time, give it to me easy
And let me try with pleasured hands

To take you and the sun to promised lands
To show you every one
It's the time of the season for loving

What's your name? Who's your daddy?
Is he rich like me? Has he taken any time?
Time to show you what you need to live...

Father McKenzie…
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear...
No one comes near...

Look at him working...
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there....
What does he care...?

All the lonely people...where do they all come from?
All the lonely people...where do they all belong?

Time, time, time, see what's become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around…leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hear the salvation army band
Down by the riverside it’s bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned
Carry your cup in your hand
And look around…leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hang on to your hopes my friend
Thats an easy thing to say but if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again
Look around…the grass is high
The fields are ripe…its the springtime of my life

Seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won't you stop and remember me
At any convenient time
Funny how my memory slips while looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme…drinking my vodka and lime

But look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Look around, leaves are brown…
Theres a patch of snow on the ground...

Ave Maria
Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Ave ave dominus
Dominus tecum
In mulieribus
Et benedictus
Et benedictus
Fructus ventris
Ventris tui Jésus
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Sancta Maria
Maria mater Dei
Maria mater Dei
Ora ora pronobis
Peccatoribus
Nunc et nunc et in hora
Nunc et in hora mortis
Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae
In hora mortis nostrae
Ave Maria

Pockets Full Of Paradise

2007-12-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

The Light Shines In The Darkness
And The Darkness Does Not Comprehend It

A well-known artist was reported to have proclaimed not long ago that “the future of art is perversion.” That is the devil’s prophecy.

And no doubt the devil’s intent.

When one looks at the direction art has taken in recent times from fine art, to modern art, to cinematic art, to music, it seems that this situation has indeed been coming true. However, art belongs to God, and He is going to take art back. Art is a basic form of prophecy, and there is a beauty and an anointing about to come upon a host of holy artists whose prophetic art will burn away the fog that is now settled over it, just like the sun burns away the fog in the morning.

The Crimson Fireball [from the upcoming acoustic songs collection Pockets Full Of Paradise by artist/songwriter Frank Trainor]

In recent decades, evil has gripped almost every form of art igniting an obnoxious and perverted race to the bottom while plummeting art and creative artists deeper & deeper into darkness. Art has followed step by step the fall into confusion, meaninglessness, and darkness of soul that philosophy has fallen to. That will always be the result of worshiping anything or anyone rather than the one true God. But just as art and philosophy have descended, ascension of both will come.

Artists who worship the one true God, who keep their souls purified by the singleness of purpose to glorify the Lord, will be given greater power. They will become like prisms that refract the light of heaven giving color & meaning to the world. As deep as art has plummeted into darkness, the light that is coming will be even greater.

Beauty, meaning, and the elevation of all that is good will soon be revealed in extraordinary visions of artists. The music we listen to sows into our souls & can set the course of our lives for good or evil.

This is the time when everything that has been sown in man, the good and the evil, the light and the darkness, will come to full maturity. It is obvious that the darkness is coming to maturity in every art form, but soon we will see the light coming to maturity in every art form. Even so, light will be victorious and overshadow the darkness because light is more powerful. When we open our shades at night darkness does not come into the room. The light that is in the house shines out into the darkness. Because light is stronger than darkness and we are about to see light soon begin to overpower the darkness that is in art. Because we are approaching the end of the age, the time of full maturity, the light that is about to be released through music and the arts will be unprecedented in its true power.

This does not mean that the light about to be released through art is going to be more popular than the darkness. Remember, when the Light Himself came to live on the earth and walked among us, men “loved darkness more than the light”. Even so, the Lord is merciful beyond comprehension & He is going to give His greatest light during times of greatest darkness so that all will have the chance to see it and turn to it. He will not force, but He will give men an opportunity to see His light. It is not our job to make men see the light or want the light, but it is our job simply to walk in the light and reveal it.

I'm A Spirit Now [from the upcoming acoustic songs collection Pockets Full Of Paradise by artist/songwriter Frank Trainor]

Music artists, like all artists who are inspired by the Holy Spirit, have a similar role like prophets and priests to reveal Him to the people. Indeed the first person in the Bible who was said to be “filled with the Spirit” was an artisan, and not a priest, a king, or a prophet.

To reveal the Lord is the most basic purpose for art, and not only is it the highest form of art, but it is the only true fulfillment that an artist will ever have. Anything else will only lead to a base reduction or perversion of the gift. The true artist is the highest embodiment of the good, the true and the beautiful. So, pass me over if you can.

The Approach Of Midnight

2007-10-25T20:37:00.000-06:00

To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know,
You must go by the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess,
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not,
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know.
And what you own is what you do not own.
And where you are is where you are not.

The saint gives confession a certain quality that it receives only through him, a quality so precious that one might even believe the Lord had precisely this quality in mind when he instituted confession. Precisely the saint who has sinned the least could make the perfect confession: the confession of his distance from God, a confession that also includes all sinners. The confession of the saints, more than any other, is ecclesial and social. It is that confession in which the other sinners participate. It is indeed a fruit so pure that it may not be consumed by one person alone.

I entered into unknowing, and remained unknowing, transcending all knowledge. I entered into unknowing, yet when I saw myself there, without knowing where I was, I understood great things.

I will not say what I felt for I remained in unknowing.

Transcending all knowledge.

That perfect knowledge was of peace and holiness held at no remove in profound solitude; It was something so secret that I was left stammering, transcending all knowledge. So overwhelmed, so absorbed and withdrawn, that my senses were left deprived of all their sensing, and my spirit was given an understanding, while not understanding, transcending all knowledge.

He who truly arrives there cuts free from himself; all that he knew before now seems worthless, and his knowledge so soars that he is left in unknowing, transcending all knowledge. The higher he ascends the less he understands, because the cloud is dark which lit up the night; whoever knows this remains always in unknowing, transcending all knowledge.

This knowledge in unknowing is so overwhelming that wise men disputing can never overthrow it, for their knowledge does not reach to the understanding of not understanding, transcending all knowledge. And this supreme knowledge is so exalted that no power of man or learning can grasp it; he who masters himself will, with knowledge in unknowing, always be transcending. And if you should want to hear: this highest knowledge lies in the loftiest sense in the essence of God; this is a work of His mercy, to leave one without understanding, transcending all knowledge.

So people get ready there's a train a'comin'...you don't need no ticket you just get onboard...it's a mystical train that leaves just before midnight...it'll set your spirit free as it rolls steadily along the track to that place where you are not...a Special Streamline.

To travel wisely and rightly toward the highest destiny of your immortal soul you've got to have true power and dominion over the spirits. I'm doin' it once, and once is enough. Looking into things, the truth of things, is really seeing like seeing into metal and making it melt, seeing it for what it was and revealing it for what it was with hard words and vicious insight. I was born like this, I had no choice. I was born with the gift of a golden voice and twenty-seven angels from the great beyond.

They tied me to this table right here in the tower of song.

Now I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back

They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track

But you'll be hearin' from me baby long after I'm gone

I'll be speakin to you sweetly from my window in the tower of song

Coffee and Cigarettes

2007-10-08T17:41:00.000-06:00

It was getting near time to meet up with Iggy Jim down at the old Paradise restaurant. I had been busy all morning collecting cold wet coins from milk bottles down on tobacco road after a long night of trying to sleep on the heated air grates around the VG hospital so the warmth of my usual hangout for a few hours would be blessed relief. I'd be a bit late but I figured Iggy Jim would be cool and that he'd understand if I told him how busy a medical morning it had been.

Back at diggers dive later that night Johnny Mac and I were talking about our favorite records of the moment and he said he thought that Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own by Taj Mahal had really captured the liberating essence of the times in which we lived.

That was true enough and I dug that song myself, but I said I thought that Edgar Winter's version of J. D. Loudermilk's Tobacco Road was more poignant and more graphically descriptive of the reality of our dirt poor lives no matter how crazy champagne or cocaine made us.

Johnny Mac said he couldn't argue with that as indeed he also identified very personally with Tobacco Road.

Since we were discussing this in a diggers dive, I decided to search around until I found that record which surely had to be somewhere in the recovery room upstairs from the shooting gallery. It was bound to be in that rambling stack. Sure enough, Max the junkie had it stashed underneath his harpoon gun…now was it track 5 or 6..?

Just copped this new needle...man, talk about blessed relief...

So was it track 5 or track 6...? I can't remember...doesn't matter… actually just reminds me of 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago Transit Authority and our days and nights in Amsterdam in 1969. I've never actually been to Amsterdam but I've been to 1969...pretty much the same thing...William Burroughs was "Rat Tat Tat Katalli" [with a gun] and beauty was a blond sheathed, lace draped waif in deer skin boots with a bounty on her potions and a seventeen year old vision to sell.

And we were buyin' it all in quantity.

Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say
Flashing lights against the sky
Giving up I close my eyes
Sitting cross-legged on the floor
25 or 6 to 4

Staring blindly into space
Getting up to splash my face
Wanting just to stay awake
Wondering how much I can take
Should I try to do some more
25 or 6 to 4

Feeling like I ought to sleep
Spinning room is sinking deep
Searching for something to say
Waiting for the break of day
25 or 6 to 4
25 or 6 to 4

The Old Man Down The Road

2007-09-28T23:20:00.000-06:00

Blackie the dog was a weary old mutt with mournful brown eyes and a cold wet nose. He was my pet dog as far as I was concerned but he actually belonged to our neighbor Mrs. White who lived upstairs from my family in an old tenement building that we inhabited briefly when I was very young. Mrs. White also happened to have a huge black cat named Smokey that I was convinced was the real life model for the old electric Black Cat cigarette sign that swung uneasily in the wind above the barbershop on the corner and which loomed eerily large like the Cheshire Cat of Wonderland below our living room window.

Despite such haunting images I loved dogs and cats of all animals and had once expressed my concern about Blackie’s very cold wet nose to Mrs. White on one of her regular visits with our family. I felt this meant that Blackie must have been sick. Mrs. White laughed and told me that it was actually a sign of good health for a dogs nose to be cold and wet and that in fact if it ever were to go dry it might mean he was indeed actually sick. I loved old Blackie and didn't want him to be sick so it became routine for me to check to ensure that his nose was always cold and wet whenever we met as a sign between us that I really cared for him and wanted him to be healthy and well.

He'd wag his tail and bark his approval before licking my face off.

Good old Blackie.

One day his nose felt very dry on my skin as I threw my arms around his huge neck to give him a hug. Mrs. White was much quieter than her usual self that day and soon took Blackie back home but I knew something was wrong. I knew he must be very sick and that it likely wouldn't be too long before our visits would be coming to an end. My gut instinct told me it was the end of the road for dear old Blackie.

He take the thunder from the mountain
He take the lightning from the sky
He bring the strong man to his begging knee
He make the young girls mama cry

You got to hidey-hide, you got to jump and run;
You got to hidey-hidey-hide, the old man is down the road.

He got the voices speak in riddles
He got the eye as black as coal
He got a suitcase covered with rattlesnake hide
He stands right in the road

You got to hidey-hide, you got to jump up run away;
You got to hidey-hidey-hide, the old man is down the road.

He make the river call your lover
He make the barking of the hound
Put a shadow cross the window
When the old man comes around

You got to hidey-hide, you got to jump and run again;
You got to hidey-hidey-hide, the old man is down the road.

Coast To Coast Fever

Wanderlust finally consumed me for good by the age of 17. Rolling down the highway on a Greyhound bus bound for every terminal stop along the industrial rust belt line toward the Bible belt and liberation was the epitome of pure adventure and joy to my wayfaring sense.

I'd wanted to set out many times to discover the world beyond my little down east doorstep but life was beckoning more urgently now to feel the asphalt surrender beneath the steady hum of freedom's belted wheels with the smell of Detroit diesel filling my nostrils.

Before my nose dried up it would be my purpose in life to dedicate myself to my ever-deepening love and appreciation for an American hearts quest beyond a burning dream wish vision for my restless soul.

So, I hit the road Jack and I never came back no more.

Somewhere along the way my truest dreams became reality and I learned exactly what it means to follow where the heart leads. A man must be brave. His mind must be informed by reason and by revelation as to how you get from there to here and home again.

It's a narrow path and must be freely chosen as whom but a fool would venture toward a far horizon without knowing first the way.

I’m passing sleeping cities
Fading by degrees
Not believing all I see to be so

I’m flyin’ over backyards
Country homes and ranches
Watching life between the branches below

And it’s hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don’t you baby?

You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace

I’m moving on alone over ground that no one owns
Past statues that atone for my sins
There’s a guard on every door
And a drink on every floor
Overflowing with a thousand amens

And it’s hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don’t you baby?

You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
Don’t you baby?

You’re rolling up the carpet
Of your father’s two-room mansion
No headroom for expansion no more
And there’s a corner of the floor
They’re telling you is yours
You’re confident but not really sure

And it’s hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don’t you baby?

You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace

Don’t you baby?

Honky Tonk Hero

2007-09-18T22:48:00.000-06:00

According to legend, it was at Willie Nelson's Fourth of July picnic when country music star Waylon Jennings drunkenly promised a nobody named Billy Joe Shaver that he'd record a whole album of his songs. Apparently it wasn't until Shaver threatened physical violence on Jennings (in front of a Nashville studio full of people) that he finally made good on his promise, although Jennings had only recently been granted full artistic control by RCA. The result was a stunning achievement: 1973's Honky Tonk Heroes was the defining record of the anti-Nashville Outlaw movement--the term came after the album--and a cornerstone in country music history. Featuring bare-bones production and plainspoken, hard-nosed lyrics that celebrated personal freedoms and simple pleasures, the record was a far cry from the demure Nashville Sound. In each other, Waylon Jennings and Billy Joe Shaver had found a kindred spirit, and together they rewrote the country rulebook. --Marc Greilsamer

Since my last post [A Rose Of A Different Name] I've been enjoying with great pleasure many of the legendary songs and stories of famed Nashville outlaw Billy Joe Shaver who deserves so much more of a tribute than space permitted in my previous post so without further adieu let me remedy that situation by simply inviting you to meet and hear the artist and the man who is regarded by many as one of the greatest original songwriters in country music history. Here's Billy Joe Shaver performing Black Rose on Austin City Limits [circa 1984]

Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, and The Allman Brothers, among many other artists, have recorded Billy Joe Shaver's songs.

My previous post included the same YouTube clip and follows my story of hanging out with Billy Joe in Nashville years ago. The song includes the cool hillbilly hook line 'a rose of a different name'. Black Rose appears on the 1973 Waylon Jennings album Honky Tonk Heroes. 11 of the 12 songs on that record were written by Billy Joe Shaver.

Go ahead...I'll wait here while you view the Black Rose clip…

OK now that you're back...let us pray...you say the devil made you do it the first time...the second time you done it on your own …alright so repent and say amen...Get Thee Behind Me Satan...

The Ballad, and ballads, of Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe Shaver, Honky Tonk Hero

Billy Joe Shaver, A Life In Song

Freedom's Child
Copyright 2002 Billy Joe Shaver

At the breaking of the dawn
Day is born again
Just another missing link
In an endless chain
Filling up the empty space
Left by one who's gone
Freedom's child was born today
Singing Freedom's Song

A Rose Of A Different Name

2007-09-12T20:19:00.000-06:00

Some of the most incredible days of my life were spent hanging out in Nashville during CMA Awards week events several years ago with many of the greatest songwriters in Country Music history. Meeting songwriting legends like Mickey Newbury and Billy Joe Shaver is cool enough in anybody's book, but actually hanging out with both those guys and playing songs with them was truly special indeed.

Mickey Newbury and I were deep into a conversation at a Music Row event when somebody got my attention by asking me if I was from Canada. He had overheard my conversation with Newbury and had noticed my accent. The individual asking me that particular question was songwriter Stewart Harris who said he was quite familiar with Canada and that in fact he had once spent an entire summer gigging in Prince Edward Island playing music on alternate week-ends at a small pub in Summerside called The Brothers Two. We were both stunned and amazed to discover that I’d been the performer playing the other weekends at that very same pub during that same summer.

I was born and raised on Prince Edward Island and performed there often when I was younger, but still, it's a small world sometimes.

My good friend and former songwriting colleague Jim McBride wrote one of my favorite Waylon Jennings singles from the mid 80's called Rose In Paradise and Stewart Harris is actually the co-writer on that song as well. You recall that song. It’s one of Waylon’s biggest hits.

Here's a live version of it with a few of Waylon's pals joining him. [Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler, The Everly Brothers & Emmy Lou Harris]

But getting back to Mickey Newbury and Billy Joe Shaver. We had a great time just hanging out around Music Row with Mickey tellin' his stories and Billy Joe expressing amazement and gratitude just for still being alive. At one point, Billy Joe asked me to play him a bunch of my songs, so we sat down - just the two of us - in the music publishers little 16 track studio and I played for about an hour while the great Billy Joe Shaver sat directly in front of me listening intently to every word of my songs...he then stood up and looked at me very serious saying..."man, you're tough...those are great fucking songs".

The picture evaporates at this scene as the nod of his respect began to blend with his famous titles and I started to hear his songs almost playing out loud in my head and it just drifted me away to a whole different dimension...I'm just an old chunk of coal, but I'm gonna be a diamond someday...I've been to Georgia on a fast train honey… Then, the Jim McBride /Stewart Harris song from Waylon Jennings kicked in and Rose In Paradise met A Rose Of A Different Name...

Speaking of Waylon, he says he hopes ya'll liked him and everything, but even if you didn't, he will still kick your ass. Dead or alive…Hoss.

Alright, so Mickey Newbury finally...which will probably have you asking yourself, was Mickey Newbury one of the most talented songwriter/artists to ever draw breath…? Well, let's see now, he wrote An American Trilogy for Elvis Presley as well as the big Kenny Rogers & The First Edition hit Just dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In among many other classics...so, hearing Mickey Newbury singing his own stunning version of An American Trilogy, I'd have to say...yeah...he most definitely was...

"Music has never been anything but an escape from depression for me. How many people have listened to my songs and thought, 'He must have a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a pistol in the other.' Well, I don't. I write my sadness. I call it robbing the dragon. I write what I think. If you don't write what you think, what you write you become." - Mickey Newbury

Just Ain't My Cross To Bear

2007-08-18T23:18:00.000-06:00

I have not come...no...to testify
About our bad, bad misfortune
And I ain't here wonderin' why
I'll live on and I'll be strong
Cause it just ain't my cross to bear

I sat down and wrote you a long letter
It seems just like the other day
Said...sure as the sunrise baby
Tomorrow I'll be up and on my way
I'll live on and try to be strong
Cause it just ain't my cross to bear

But in the end baby
Long towards the end of your road
Don't reach out for me babe
Cause I'm not gonna carry your load
I'll live on and I'll be strong
Cause it just ain't my cross to bear

A Few Good Bluesmen

2007-08-15T23:24:00.000-06:00

Bluesman: "You want answers?"

Music Biz Accountant: "I think we are entitled to them!"

Bluesman: "You want answers?!"

Music Biz Accountant: "I want the truth!"

Bluesman: "You can't handle the truth!!! Son, we live in a world that requires true blues soul energy. And that energy must be created by people with elite talents and special skills.

Who's going to play it? You?

You, Mr. Clear Channel radio man?

We have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.

You scoff at the rhythm and blues roster and you curse our deep spiritual roots. You have that luxury.

You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: That while the cost of music business promotions for our niches are prohibitive, soul drives energy. And my very existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, drives LOYALTY! You don't want to know the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at ASCAP parties and corporate A&R meetings ... you want me on that wall.

You NEED me on that wall!

We use words like mojo, lost highway, lovesick, sweet little angel, woke up this mornin', trouble in mind and trouble no more.

We use these words as the backbone of a life spent loving and perpetuating something priceless and irreplaceable.

You use them as a punch line!

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to people who rise and sleep under the very blanket of soul I provide and then question the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a guitar and give us your soul and some pure blue magic. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!"

Music Biz Accountant: "Did you expense the sun shade?"

Bluesman: "I did the job I was hired to do."

Music Biz Accountant: "Did you expense the sun shade?!"

Bluesman: "You're goddamn right I did!"

Don't want no one tellin' me
I got to write over my own talent
Play this guitar any way I want to
I don't need an amplifier

Everybody's gettin' tired
Pushin' buttons on their radio
Where was it wrote down
They got to cram it down our throats

I don't give a damn about the hook lines
They make me feel like a fish

Hook this...

Wear my hair long down to my hipbone
If that's the way I feel
Wear my sunshade even in the nighttime
Ride my woman in a Coupe De Ville

I might wanna rock
I'll play the blues all night long

I'm in this thing for life
I didn't come here for just one song

They can't put the music in a small bag
Tellin' us the way that I feel

Don't want no one tellin' me
I got to write over my own talent
Play this guitar any way I want to
Lightnin' Hopkins was a friend of mine

Don't let no one boogie witch your woogie
mmm yes...keepin' it alive
Play your music any way you want to
Don't let nobody change your mind

Rebellion: Tony Joe White [from the album The Beginning]

Check out legendary Tony Joe White at www.tonyjoewhite.com

Tony Joe White once gave me the shirt off his back…his jacket too...and also cooked us up a big feed of fresh crappie on the BBQ one night on a personal visit to his home…Tony Joe was a Combine Music writer when I was signed to Combine in 1987. Tony Joe’s wife Leanne is a photographer and a songwriter herself so I hired her to shoot some publicity photos for me and since I didn't have any cool threads at the time, she got some from Tony Joe for me to wear in the pictures she took. Those are my own sunglasses however...I have always been a sunglasses kind of guy...in fact...I wear my sunshade even in the nighttime...ride my woman in a Coupe De Ville.

Frank Trainor photo by Leanne White Nashville 1987
Jacket and shirt graciously provided by Tony Joe White

I caught B.B. King with special guest the great Howlin’ Wolf in Ypsilanti Michigan in 1972 so here’s B.B. King with Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and Jeff Beck doing Sweet Little Angel together at The Apollo. No actual sunshades were expensed.

A Thousand Miles Behind

2007-07-29T21:07:00.000-06:00

I'm just one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind...

I met Johnny Cash in the summer of 1973.

The Man in Black had just performed a show in my hometown to a small but appreciative crowd and was winding down afterward at a private hotel dining room not far from the concert venue. I had caught the show and wanted to meet the great country music star.

The hotel dining room had been reserved that night exclusively for Cash and his entourage as a private relax space after the show. I had worked at the hotel as a young kid so I decided to make my way there after the show to see if I could get an audience with the legendary singer himself. In fact, I wanted to give him a copy of a new #1 hit record of a song I had written for Canada's top country music group of that time, The Mercey Brothers, who recorded for RCA.

I was all of 19 and quite nervous about meeting a major star like Johnny Cash. I was also new to the strangely impersonal feelings of sudden success I was experiencing as a new songwriter. I felt a certain sense of destiny guiding me however and I gladly followed.

The scene of that dining room was familiar to me of course as I casually opened the main door to enter. Still, I was not quite sure what to expect as I walked in and encountered three individuals seated around a big circular table right in the middle of the floor.

There was no one else in the room but these three and myself.

Two familiar faces looked right up at me and smiled a very warm and sincere welcome in my direction telling me to "come in, come join us". These warm friendly people were none other than Johnny Cash's loving wife and music partner June Carter Cash and their close friend, the legendary rockabilly artist/songwriter, Carl Perkins.

The Man in Black himself was seated with his back to the door but turned around as I entered the room to see who it was that June and Carl were welcoming to their private table and that's when I found myself face to face with the legendary Johnny Cash.

It is a moment in time I will never forget.

Frank revisits the Charlottetown Hotel dining room and the table where he once met and talked with Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash and legendary rock-a-billy cat Carl Perkins

I gave "J.R." the record I wanted to present to him. He received it very graciously while politely introducing me to his wife June Carter Cash and to their good friend and fellow band member Carl Perkins. THE Carl Perkins...yes, that’s right, the same Carl Perkins who wrote Blue Suede Shoes for Elvis...rock-a-billy hero to The Beatles who recorded several of his songs and George Harrison's musical idol.

We talked about country music and Nashville and agreed that if I were ever in Nashville someday that I'd have to come by for a visit at their home in Hendersonville. I promised I'd be there someday.

God Bless their hearts.

We're just one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind.

The experience of meeting such legendary musical icons simply gathered together as friends around a table is absolutely one of my most precious memories of all time. Especially now that all three of them, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash & Carl Perkins have since passed on from this world to join that "family circle in the sky".

The circle that remains unbroken by and by.

Johnny Cash was one of the greatest and most successful music artists of his generation. His unique musical style represents the definitive intersection between folk, country & rock 'n roll.

Johnny Cash transcended musical boundaries and was one of the most respected artists of all time. He was true to the very end to the spirit of creative freedom and he will forever be remembered as a cultural touchstone and as an enduring icon of popular music.

The Rest Is History

2007-07-23T21:02:00.000-06:00

Human beings live shackled in a cave that is illuminated by a light that comes from outside it. Thus, all they see is the play of shadows cast upon the wall, which they call "knowledge."

One of the cave dwellers breaks free, turns around, and sees the actual source of light. He tries to tell the other cave-dwelling hermen about the light, but they don't want to hear it.

Some think he's crazy, while others are outright hostile.

And the rest is history. - One Cosmos

All art needs an element of mystery to be most effective.

It needs to be something that cannot be completely explained or understood. People need artists and performers to be in touch with the parts of themselves that the average person can't easily access - if they could, what do they need you for? Let's hope that studying the '60s inspires a new attitude and performance commitment to match the new music. An attitude with a desperate need to communicate a save-your-soul catharsis.

The way God intended. - Little Steven Van Zandt

But why...?

There's no money in it.

Because creators are in touch with the mystery and because of that connection creators create amazing and beautiful and life affirming and potentially very profitable things out of thin air.

The common mundane pictures & sounds all around us that mean nothing until put into a form that communicates. And ultimately all art communicates one single message and that message is…

Eternity.

As for me...

Well I was born an original sinner
I was borne from original sin
And if I had a dollar bill
For all the things I’ve done
There’d be a mountain of money
Piled up to my chin...

Brothers In Arms

2007-07-15T17:34:00.000-06:00

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones - Mark Knopfler / Brothers In Arms

Two brothers of mine have experienced events and happenings in their lives recently, which give pause for some personal reflection.

Brother Tim, who lives in Prince Edward Island, is a lifelong fan of The Beatles. Tim and I were both born in the mid 1950's and we even had our own rockin’ duo in 1959 so The Beatles were a revelation and the revolution of our generation. The "big bang" of our universe.

(Brothers Tim Trainor and Frank Trainor performing as The Pre-Fab Two circa 1959 PEI)

Tim had not had the same opportunities living in PEI to attend major music concerts over the years so he decided a few years ago to head to Toronto to see Paul McCartney who was touring North America at that time. He was greatly impressed as the former Beatle played a spectacular Toronto show which featured many famous Beatles songs of course and Tim had the ultimate concert experience of a lifetime.

He had such a great time in fact that he traveled to Toronto again a couple of years later to get more of McCartney live and from all the reviews, including Tim's, McCartney was again in top form playing many more Beatles hits and even old "B" sides like I'll Get You.

I left the Island for Michigan in the early 1970's and lived in Ottawa and Toronto for many years and in Nashville after that, so I've had the opportunity to attend lots of concerts in my life including a 1976 Paul McCartney & Wings show in Toronto, but PEI doesn't get many big name attractions, so I'm glad that Tim finally decided to go to Toronto and experience a major rock show like Paul McCartney's.

For many of our generation, and certainly for those of us who were born and raised in small places like tiny Prince Edward Island, simply seeing and hearing a "Beatle" in person was far more fantastical than anything else we could have ever imagined growing up in the 1960's. So seeing Paul McCartney, an actual Beatle, live in concert, was just as monumental an event for Tim as it had been for me back in 1976.

Tim would make his wealth of Beatles memories "a little golder" however, by also getting to see and actually meet The Beatles original drummer from their Hamburg days. Pete Best has been touring his band these past few years and finally getting his due recognition and royalties for his years of toil with the boys from Merseyside who would eventually change the world. Pete brought his band to The Maritimes awhile back so Tim caught the show, which featured a personal Q&A, and he got to meet and talk with Pete.

(Original Beatles drummer Pete Best & my brother Tim)

Tim is having fun in other ways these days too besides meeting and hanging out with former Beatles who are still rockin' The Casbah.

He's done a bit of TV extra work this past year acting in episodes of The Trailer Park Boys the iconic pop cult show from down east.

We happened to catch one of the episodes Tim was in just the other night on Bravo. It featured rocker Sebastian Bach in a guest star role. Tim's son Thomas, our sister Vicki and her son Daniel, have also appeared in various episodes of The Trailer Park Boys too so it's become a bit of a family affair to be a part of the Sunnyvale crew.

(My nephew Daniel with his mom & my sister Vicki & my brother Tim and his son Thomas)

Tim also does a great impression of Bubbles, his favorite character from the show, so he's got some cool memories now with his concerts of recent years including a Bob Dylan show we attended together in Moncton NB in 2002, and his new acting career. Way to go "Ovey"!

My other brother [not Daryl] is Aaron who lives in LA [you know where that's at] and he and his lovely wife Nicky just had a baby.

Mother and daughter [Olivia Dominique] and new dad [my little brother Aaron...the youngest of our 9 siblings] are all doing great.

Aaron is an actor/filmmaker and musician with credits in Canada and The US for his work in TV, movies and national brand commercials.

He visited with us at Christmas with an actor buddy of his whose own family also lives in our Canadian city. His name is Chris Kramer. Chris is the star of The Collector, which is on every Friday evening here in Canada on the CTV network. He plays the role of Morgan Pym.

(My brother Aaron & me with Aaron’s good buddy Chris Kramer star of TV's The Collector)

Chris and Aaron are best friends and in a very real sense they're supportive brothers to each other in their Hollywood community.

Tim and I grew up together so we share much in common owing largely to our generational perspectives. Brother Aaron however, although nearly twenty years my junior, is very much like me in personality and disposition with his creative impulses and talents as well as in his wanderlust in being embarked on a journey far from the dark caves where shadows from the light of dawn first appeared.

As the eldest of our family and as the first to split from the pride nearly 35 years ago now, I would often joke with Aaron that we were bookends of the family. I was the first and he was the last. But both of us were drawn early on to spreading our wings far away from our early roots in Eastern Canada toward creative experiences of destiny and fate that many, including our folks, would not have envisioned.

Tim is steeped in Catholic Theology having been in the seminary for the priesthood at one time in his young adult life before changing course towards marriage and raising a family. We share with our brother Aaron a deep bond and appreciation of the life of God's Spirit in our lives. Each of us in his own way is in touch with the mystery.

Like brothers in arms.

Friday On My Mind

2007-06-21T20:26:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, June 22, 2007 marks the 2nd anniversary of this humble blog spot formerly known as FRANKtalk.

I'd like to thank every one of you who visits this site for taking the time to indulge our muse. Your interest in the ethereal emanations extending from my little corner of the vast universe is appreciated.

My thanks again also to those bloggers [identified in my last post] who have honored this effort by linking this page at their own sites.

You will find those writers along with several other interesting and important site links in my own sidebar scroll so check them out soon.

We changed our name to In Touch With The Mystery a while back in order to reflect an abiding sense of the spiritually enhanced creative impulse glimpsed darkly through art, music, literature, philosophy and theology. Such spiritual intimations and soulful illuminations are truly wonderful gifts for which we ought to be eternally grateful.

Our perspectives can easily encompass a wide spectrum of revelation occurring always and everywhere within our ephemeral domains. Our highest purpose in fact is to develop and nurture our uniquely human transcendental faculties to the greatest degree we can in our lives.

God and angels then meet us at that tremulous precipice to steady our tether and encourage us on our way back to the lost horizon.

The devil takes the hindmost. Ours is the duty to embrace Truth.

My purpose in creating a blog initially focused primarily on issues pertaining to professional songwriting and the music publishing business along with observations and casual commentary related to conservative philosophy. Also, it was my desire to relate a wealth of personal and music business related stories gained from a life of rich experiences lived both inside & outside the proverbial Gates of Eden.

That's a book in itself however so I may in fact be inspired at some point to compile those stories into a volume for future publishing.

Meantime, my lifelong passion for great songwriting, along with my passionate interests in artful, intelligent pop craft and the important core socio/cultural and political issues that have motivated me as a creative artist & writer for many long years, remain strongly in focus.

I love to write and of course, the mystery is always unfolding. I love the rich textures of our life. Always changing yet strangely familiar.

Also, I can't help myself from posting great pop/rock music video clips from time to time. Ok maybe a lot of the time. But my love of classic pop/rock performances as found on YouTube is irrepressible. The Easybeats performing Friday On My Mind is a recent example. I mean, just listen to that song...along with being the #1 pop hit song of all time from Australia, it also just happens to be one of the most memorable and defining records of my own earliest influences. This 1966 hit, among others, was absolutely pivotal in providing me with so much of my early formative development as a singer/songwriter.

Check it out in my May 20th post …[Walking On The Moon] …and incidentally, if these hooks don't kill then you may be already dead. Paul McCartney [Beatle Paul for you youngsters out there] was so rocked by this smash hit record the first time he heard it in his car, he immediately called the record label just to find out who it was.

While you're at it, check out Buffalo Springfield doing Mr. Soul with Neil Young at the helm [video clip directly below The Easybeats]

Again, if these songs and performances don't slay you, you may no longer have a heart full of soul and might require spiritual surgery.

The Moody Blues provide the details on that journey in The Voice [See clip immediately following Neil Young with Buffalo Springfield]

Still, time marches on. Everything changes. Nothing remains the same. Eventually all our precious treasures get lost in the rubble.

Minds can easily adapt however as our souls also must continue to expand by embracing the infinite reality of eternity now through the brilliant heritage of artistic expression and spiritual enlightenment in all creative human endeavors that reveal what we need to truly live.

It’s an epochal, transformative technological era in which we now exist surrounded by an endless sea of shallow distractions and toxic superficial amazements. But, even as we die laughing, evil is burning our putrefying slow rotting corpses into the Lost Souls of Asmodeus.

Not to worry though...everything’s gonna be fine…you’ll see...if you're lonely you can talk to me...but not now...and never here.

As Silvio Dante says..."our true enemy has yet to reveal himself"

Thursday Morning, 5 O’Clock Rain

2007-06-12T20:30:00.000-06:00

Boredom's a pastime that one soon acquired
Where you get to the stage that you're not even tired
Kickin' your heels 'til the time comes around
To pick up your bags and head out of town - Elton John/Bernie Taupin

It came to me as I patiently sat waiting for my departure schedule to finally catch up with my soul in the early morning hours of a fresh new spring day in 1972. My train would be pulling out at 9 so I'd have to be in the taxi and gone by 7am. What the hell…may as well play.

I checked my time...5am...getting lighter now...soft rain...more dew and mist than downfall really but adequate enough to the senses that it inspired elements in my mind to open a new song that wrote itself.

It was a Thursday morning. God knows where I was going. It was a long time ago now. But I got there. And God knows that story too. I've been lots of places since. Everywhere I've ever had the burning desire to explore in fact. But this scene was 35 years ago. Eternity.

I've been around you know. Oh yeah. I've heard the silence howling and I've caught angels as they've fallen in the shuffling madness of the locomotive breath for what seemed like forever at this junction, but the train you know it won't stop going. No way to slow down.

But back then, everything was fresh and every place I traveled to was yet another exciting new world of possibility and hopefulness.

Time in the trenches through each phase of my wandering journey would eventually prove the naiveté of an all too innocent visionary quest, but nothing is ever really lost to hearts that are faithful and true. Borders, bandits and broad loomed bordellos can't completely extinguish that deathless spirit. Your heart can easily remain open.

Some things can't be taught, they can only be lived.

So on that misty morning, that "rainy" Thursday morning at 5 am, a mere few hours before being long gone and glory bound for a destiny that I could never have imagined for me even in a moment's sunlight, I picked up my guitar & wrote "Thursday Morning, 5 O'Clock Rain".

Little did I know then, nor could I fully appreciate, the resonant hope that such a creative musing could produce in people's souls someday.

I was just killing time. But that same song would in fact become my very first recording as an artist and for some reason also become a touchstone favorite with so many people who knew me and who still remember me and the song from it's success in 1975 when it was first popular on the radio. The interesting thing to me - since there's been a bit of a resurgent interest in this record in my former home part of the country lately - is that this song apparently means just as much to people now as it did when they first connected with it as being meaningful in their own lives. Maybe more. I find this amazing.

Perhaps, because it's just a song of mine, I tend to be surprised by this reaction to a tune. But I'm no different in my own life when it comes to music and lyrics that speak to me. I'm just as passionate today as I've ever been in my life about all the great songs, artists and records that moved me. Maybe, like them, even more so today.

What's more amazing is that a few months before that record came out in 1975, I met the beautiful girl who would soon become my wife. Linda and I met June 14, 1975 and we've been together ever since. So June 14 is our "unofficial" anniversary. We were married in 1978. Our 30th official anniversary is next year. We've had a life let me tell you. And it ain't over yet. Better today than it's ever been.

We have our own timeless connection to a particular song that indeed I actually played and sang during Mass on our wedding day.

You might say it's our Tumbleweed Connection…

You'll note the lyric at the top of this post is from Holiday Inn which is a great song from Madman Across the Water which, along with Tumbleweed Connection, represents the best of early Elton John.

So, I dedicate Tumbleweed Connection’s Love Song to Linda here today in honor of our 32 years as I did back then on our wedding day and as I rededicate myself to her again and for always and forever.

Linda is my life and my soul's true inspiration and she is also the talented creator and designer of my artist website and this blog.

I've prepared a post marking our blogs upcoming 2nd anniversary which will appear before June 22 but I want to thank Linda here very much now for all of the tremendous work and input she has provided in helping me to sustain both these online efforts in every respect.

We're a team and we work well together in love and life.

We are just beginning our journey through the higher dimensions.

It's been a very intense time the past six months or so here dealing with several important business issues and personal matters which have demanded my complete focus and closest attention so posting on a regular basis hasn't really been an option for me until recently.

We've kept things low key here lately putting up favorite music clips of ours from YouTube and the like, which is cool as I love that stuff, but we're hopefully back now to more varied purposes and musings as we approach our blog site’s 2nd anniversary which is on June 22nd.

Hope you drop by to read that special post as well...and by the way, thanks for stopping by and reading this story today…I appreciate it.

I'd also like to express my thanks and kind appreciations to those very special bloggers who have honored this mysterious blog universe of mine since our "big bang" two years ago, by choosing to add this blog to their own personal sidebar links. I am grateful to have our musings here appreciated by such outstanding writers as they are all very distinguished and unique in their own respective realms.

I like to believe that they're all In Touch With The Mystery.

In fact, I know they are.

RightWingBob.com
The Invisible Hand
small dead animals
Pro Ecclessia
Rerum Novarum
Western World Politics
Let Freedom Reign
Faith Mouse
The Great Pumpkin

Please note that we're still linked as FRANKtalk at some blogs until requests for a change to our new site name can be forwarded to all.

Hope you enjoy!

Walking On The Moon

2007-05-20T20:05:00.000-06:00

Giant steps are what you take
Walking on the moon
I hope my legs don't break
Walking on the moon

May as well play...

Take it to the bridge
Throw it overboard
See if it can swim
Back up to the shore

The hourglass has no more grains of sand
Little red grains of sand...

Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...

Water dissolving...and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Carry the water at the bottom of the ocean
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean!

“That's one of the challenges as you get older. It isn’t ‘How am I going to have a hit’ but ‘How am I going to express myself as clearly as I can while at the same time leading people into a mystery which is always entertaining and possibly moving as well?’ That's what I'm interested in. I want to know about the mystery. Then I have to think: ‘Do I solve this mystery, or do I just embrace it because of the pleasure of the mystery?’ That's the mystical." - Paul Simon

I was always a singer & maybe no more then that. Sometimes it's not enough to know the meaning of things. Sometimes we have to know what things don't mean as well. Things fall apart, especially all the neat order of rules and laws. The way we look at the world is the way we really are. See it from a fair garden and everything looks cheerful. Climb to a higher plateau and you'll see plunder & murder.

Truth and beauty are in the eye of the beholder.

I stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago.

Yeah, I dream. I dream that I'm walking through fire.

Intense heat.

I don't pay much attention to my dreams. - Jack Fate

Do you know the hallmark of the second-rater?

It is resentment of another man’s achievement.

Touchy mediocrities who tremble at the mere thought of someone else's work proving greater than their own have no inkling of the loneliness that comes when you reach for and achieve the top. The loneliness for any equal, for another mind to respect and for an achievement to admire, someone to look up to. You don't have that when you're at the top. Second-raters bare their teeth at you from out of their rat holes thinking that you take pleasure in letting your brilliance dim them while you'd give a year of your life to see one small flicker of talent anywhere among them. Second-raters envy achievement, and their dream of greatness is a world where all others have become their acknowledged inferiors. They don't even know that that dream is the infallible proof of their mediocrity, because that sort of world is what the man of achievement would not even be able to bear. They have no way of knowing what he feels when he's around them. Hatred? No, not hatred, but boredom: the terrible, hopeless, draining, paralyzing boredom of mediocrity.

What good is empty praise and phony adulation from second-raters whom you don't respect? - Ayn Rand

Hello Mr. Soul

2007-04-29T00:02:00.000-06:00

Oh, Hello Mr. Soul,
I dropped by to pick up a reason
For the thought that I caught
That my head is the event of the season
Why in crowds just a trace of my face
Could seem so pleasin'
I'll cop out to the change,
But a stranger is putting the tease on.

I was down on a frown
When the messenger brought me a letter
I was raised by the praise of a fan
Who said I upset her
Any girl in the world could have easily
Known me better
She said, You're strange,
But don't change and I let her...

In a while will the smile
on my face turn to plaster?
Stick around while the clown
Who is sick does the trick of disaster
For the race of my head
And my face is moving much faster
Is it strange I should change?
I don't know, why don't you ask her?

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did,
I've got what I paid for now
See you tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow
A couple of bucks from you
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

No, I don't want your sympathy, the fugitives say,
That the streets aren't for dreaming now
Manslaughter dragnets & the ghosts that sell memories,
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees, but it's alright,
It's alright, for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong, I can't help but wonder
What's gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my Soul Rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty sailing away to sea

And I dreamed I was flying
We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hours
And sing an American Tune
Oh, and it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying to get some rest

Divine Mercy

2007-04-15T01:45:00.000-06:00

Reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one to think with the spirit as well as with the mind. You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page. Ultimately, a leap of faith is required.

Visit the Miraculous Host page for the full story of the Miracle Host.

In this time of Divine Mercy we offer up our spirits and our minds in prayer and subservience to Our Lord for the memory of friends and family now departed in the fervent and faithful hope that their souls have found eternal rest & peace in The Holy Spirit of Almighty God.

Bill Wade
Ron Dann
Earl Keefe
Alice Byers
Bill Cullen
Billy Acorn
Lloyd Landa
Jack Harper
Peter Crerar
Betty Swink
Carl Trainor
Billy Murphy
Bob McBride
Dennis Linde
Peter Orasuk
Terry Carisse
David Atwood
David Hambly
David Murphy
Frank Walker
Cam Cameron
Glen Constable
Valerie Gaudet
Francis Trainor
George Walker
Wayne Pronger
Gene MacLellan
Jimmy McAskill
Robert MacLeod
Jacquie Neumann
Leonard Rambeau
John Allen Cameron
Corinne Walker Ward
Margaret Weir Walker
Jane Breimer Antoniak
Elizabeth Egan Trainor
Donnie "Norman" MacKay
Hazel Ann Stacey Cheverie

Saving Grace

2007-04-04T19:55:00.000-06:00

If anyone would come after me
He must deny himself
And take up his cross and follow me
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it
But whoever loses his life for me will find it - Jesus Christ

If you find it in Your Heart, can I be forgiven?
Guess I owe You some kind of apology
I've escaped death so many times, I know I'm only living
By the Saving Grace that's over me.

By this time I'd-a thought that I would be sleeping
In a pine box for all eternity
My faith keeps me alive, but I'll still be weeping
For the Saving Grace that's over me.

The death of life, then come the resurrection
Wherever I am welcome is where I'll be
I put all my confidence in Him, my sole protection
In the Saving Grace that's over me.

The devil's shining light, it can be most blinding
But to search for love, that ain't no more than vanity
As I look around this world all that I'm finding
Is the Saving Grace that's over me.

The wicked know no peace and you just can't fake it
There's only one road and it leads to Calvary
It gets discouraging at times, but I know I'll make it
By the Saving Grace that's over me.

Following Jesus Christ is a profound counter-cultural action.

It is a life of risk. It is not about safety.

But it is the opportunity to live a full life in the service of our Creator. It is an opportunity to live for that which we were made. Nothing could be more exciting or fulfilling. It's about following Jesus into the places that only those who have lost the fear of living can finally go. Jesus invites us to consider ourselves “dead men walking” precisely so that he can unleash us into a world that desperately needs souls who are not afraid of uncertainty, danger, and trials because they know that their true Master is with them always.

The Roadmap by David Warren
For those who were the builders of our civilization, as for those who may be the rebuilders, the task was and remains beyond the work of human hands. At the centre of the whole project was redemption in Christ. The biggest thing an individual can do, is to re-embrace that centre. He must endeavour less to change the world, than to change himself. And necessarily, to ask for the grace of God in doing so. For the project is no less than to rebuild Christendom: the foundation of the West. And this can only be done in human souls.

The buildings & the clothing, the art & the music, that mysteriously hopeful view of the universe -- these things are outward reflections of what is wrought in human souls. I believe the answer begins in personal conversion; in reading and thinking as deeply as we can about reality, and about our history. This requires courage: for you will be mocked. I would hold that the “roadmap” exists, in the Bible and the teachings of the Church and her saints. And that, while reason is our guide, the road is essentially sacramental.

Read the entire “Roadmap” piece by David Warren…it is profound.

Epitaph

2007-03-30T18:59:00.000-06:00

Who is Keyser Soze? He’s supposed to be Turkish.
Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real.
Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could’ve worked for Soze.

You never knew.

That was his power.

The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams.
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams.
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams,
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
As silence drowns the screams.

Between the iron gates of fate,
The seeds of time were sown,
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known;
Knowledge is a deadly friend
When no one sets the rules.
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools.

Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it we can all sit back and laugh
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying

The rusted chains of prison moons
Are shattered by the sun.
I walk the road, horizons change
The tournaments begun.
The purple piper plays his tune,
The choir softly sing;
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue,
For the court of the Crimson King.

On soft gray mornings widows cry
The wise men share a joke;
I run to grasp divining signs
To satisfy the hoax.
The yellow jester does not play
But gently pulls the strings
And smiles as the puppets dance
In the court of the Crimson King.

You never knew...the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist...and just like that...he's gone...

A Young Man From A Small Town

2007-03-20T18:58:00.000-06:00

Conquer yourself and the world lies at your feet. - Saint Augustine

Circumstances of an early life forged and sustained in abject poverty, near fatal drug addiction, repentant but chronic alcoholism, discordant emotional abuse, constant physical displacements and torturous, agonizing reinforcements of a deep inherent need for supplications toward societal expectations...the true ancient history of a young man from a small town with a very large imagination.

Born with the true gifts that challenge all perceptions.

Driven by a strong heart projected to every dimension.

Guided by stealth and a fascile mind equipped for all contingencies.

Seeking and finding The Rock.

Who wants the world...? You can have it all. Your empire of dirt.

The world is not The Rock, it's just the hard place. The Rock is solid.

Born in a back street and it's a hard road daddy-o.

But my job is turning lead into gold.

Even my best friends...they don't know.

You don't even have to give a damn. But I know what's right.

I got just one life. And you are someone else.

Restless Farewell

2007-03-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

Oh all the money that in my whole life I did spend,
Be it mine right or wrongfully,
I let it slip gladly past the hands of my friends
To tie up the time most forcefully.
But the bottles are done,
We've killed each one
And the table's full and overflowed.
And the corner sign
Says it's closing time,
So I'll bid farewell and be down the road.

Oh ev'ry girl that ever I've touched,
I did not do it harmfully.
And ev'ry girl that ever I've hurt,
I did not do it knowin'ly.
But to remain as friends and make amends
You need the time and stay behind.
And since my feet are now fast
And point away from the past,
I'll bid farewell and be down the line.

Oh ev'ry foe that ever I faced,
The cause was there before we came.
And ev'ry cause that ever I fought,
I fought it full without regret or shame.
But the dark does die
As the curtain is drawn and somebody's eyes
Must meet the dawn.
And if I see the day
I'd only have to stay,
So I'll bid farewell in the night and be gone.

Oh, ev'ry thought that's strung a knot in my mind,
I might go insane if it couldn't be sprung.
But it's not to stand naked under unknowin' eyes,
It's for myself and my friends my stories are sung.
But the time ain't tall,
Yet on time you depend and no word is possessed
By no special friend.
And though the line is cut,
It ain't quite the end,
I'll just bid farewell till we meet again.

Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract, and bother me.
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face,
And the dust of rumors covers me.
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick,
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick.
So I'll make my stand
And remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn.

Cry For A Shadow

2007-02-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

George Harrison
February 25, 1943 - November 29, 2001

There'll come a time
When all of us must leave here
Then nothing Sister Mary can do
Will keep me here with you
As nothing in this life that I've been trying
Can equal or surpass the art of dying
Do you believe me? - George Harrison 1970

Now you might ask, in this world of all art being measured by opening weekend box office and all success measured by the quarterly corporate bottom line, who cares about transcendence and what the hell is transcendence anyway?

There’s no money in it.

Unless somebody creates a reality TV show around it, it ain’t gonna make it these days. But that is a world you and I refuse to live in because we know better. We know something that mainstream culture has long forgotten. Corporate America survives by suppressing & Wall Street has never known the most important things in life can’t be explained in high ratings, revealed in a profit and loss statement or discovered in marketing research. Great art illuminates life by its mystery and that is why business men despise the creative people they unfairly exploit and ultimately destroy.

Because creators are in touch with the mystery and because of that connection creators create amazing and beautiful and life affirming and potentially very profitable things out of thin air…the very common mundane pictures & sounds all around us that mean nothing until put into a form that communicates. And ultimately all art communicates one single message and that message is Eternity.

That is real power and the bosses that control this planet are jealous of it. They know they are frauds. They know that the only reason that they have a job is because the genius that hired them was a fraud just like them. They will never have real power however because they create nothing. They will never be secure because they have no real identity & they’ll keep the working people of this planet tortured, frustrated, too tired to think and mired in the quicksand of spiritual bankruptcy forever.

There is no revolution that will ever overthrow them. The only true revolution is to learn to live without them…among them…but not with them. It is a revolution that takes place within first…then in the embrace of likeminded angel headed hipsters …and finally, in the understanding and acceptance of the transcendent redemptive positive energy of love.

And George Harrison understood all that completely.

You Think You Know Me

2007-02-18T01:07:00.000-07:00

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." - Albert Einstein

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight..." - E.E. Cummings

"Some kind of solitude is measured out in you,
You think you know me but you haven't got a clue." - John Lennon

The eagle picks my eye
The worm he licks my bones
I feel so suicidal
Just like Dylan's Mr. Jones
I'm lonely wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Girl you know the reason why.

In the morning -- gonna get my things together.
Packing up and I'm leaving this place.
I don't believe you'll cry, there'll be a smile upon your face.
I didn't think how much you'd hurt me.
That's something that I laugh about.
Bring in the good times, baby.
And let the bad times out.
That old sun keeps on shining,
But someday it won't shine for you.
In the morning I'll be leaving.
I'll leave your mother too.

Videos and Lyrics:
Hey Bulldog [The Beatles - Lady Madonna sessions promo clip - song from Yellow Submarine]
Yer Blues [The Dirty Macs - John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards & Mitch Mitchell]
Someday The Sun Won't Shine For You [Ian Anderson - song from This Was Jethro Tull]

Birds of a Feather

2007-02-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

The Byrds and Bob Dylan...Mr. Tambourine Man

The Byrds...I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better

The Bryds...Eight Miles High

The Yardbirds..Heart Full Of Soul

The Eagles...Hotel California

The Mamas and The Papas

2007-01-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

John and Mitchie were gettin' kind of itchy
Just to leave the folk music behind.
Zal and Denny workin' for a penny
Tryin’ to get a fish on the line.
In a coffee house Sebastian sat,
And after every number they'd pass the hat.
McGuinn and McGuire just a-gettin' higher in L.A.,
You know where that's at.
And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass.

Zally said, "Denny, you know there aren't many
Who can sing a song the way that you do; let's go south."
Denny said, "Zally, golly, don't you think that I wish
I could play guitar like you."
Zal, Denny, and Sebastian sat (at the Night Owl)
And after every number they'd pass the hat.
McGuinn and McGuire still a-gettin higher in L.A.,
You know where that's at.
And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass

When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swathmore
but she changed her mind one day.
Standin' on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike,
"Take me to New York right away."
When Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps;
Called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps.
McGuinn and McGuire couldn't get no higher
But that's what they were aimin' at.
And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass.

Mugwumps, high jumps, low slumps, big bumps---
Don't you work as hard as you play.
Make up, break up, everything is shake up;
Guess it had to be that way.
Sebastian and Zal formed the Spoonful
Michelle, John, and Denny gettin' very tuneful.
McGuinn and McGuire just a-catchin' fire in L.A.,
You know where that's at.
And everybody's gettin' fat except Mama Cass.

Broke, busted, disgusted, agents can't be trusted,
And Mitchy wants to go to the sea.
Cass can't make it; she says we'll have to fake it---
We knew she'd come eventually.
Greasin' on American Express cards;
Tents low rent, but keeping out the heat's hard.
Duffy's good vibrations and our imaginations
Can't go on indefinitely.
And California dreamin' is becomin' a reality...

California Grievin' On Such A Winter's Day
The seductive melody opens with a seven-second guitar riff that introduces a distinctive voice singing haunting lyrics, about a man pondering whether to leave his bleak winter…..more

Denny Doherty Profile - Canadian Encyclopedia
The year is 1966. A 26-year-old Denny Doherty, riding a wave of fame as part of the California foursome The Mamas & the Papas, is enjoying a quiet drink at an exclusive club in the heart of….more

The Mamas and The Papas [Bob Lefsetz]
I dig the Mamas and the Papas at ‘The Trip,’ Sunset Strip in L.A.
And they got a good thing goin’ when the words don’t get in the way
And when they’re really wailing, Michelle and Cass are sailin’
Hey, they really nail me to the wall!……more

Woke Up This Morning

2007-01-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

You woke up this morning. Got yourself a gun.
Mama always said you'd be the Chosen One.

She said: You're one in a million. You've got to burn to shine.
But you were born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes.

You woke up this morning all that love has gone,
Your Papa never told you about right and wrong.

But you're looking good, baby.
I believe you're feeling fine. (shame about it)
Born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes.

You woke up this morning the world turned upside down.
Thing's ain't been the same since the Blues walked into town.

But you're one in a million you've got that shotgun shine.
Born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes.

When you woke up this morning ... you got yourself a gun

A good friend of ours…a Wise Guy from the Hood…a man of respect
...gets the 3rd degree after leaving the witness protection program…
Listen to the interrogation in the YouTube video evidence clip below

The Mystery Inside Us All

2007-01-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

So when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And music shall untune the sky

from John Dryden's A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, 1687 [Grand Chorus Stanza]

A rash of famous deaths marked the season of winter trees this year creating an interesting contrast with the many activities and events surrounding our Christmas and New Year's celebrations. For starters, my old buddy, John Allen Cameron, passed away on November 22nd of a rare bone marrow cancer that had seen him deteriorate in hospital for a year before his death. He was 67.

John Allen Cameron was a very kind and wonderfully talented man. We were great music friends in Toronto years ago and I grieve his loss. He was a very special soul whose boundless energy and life were gifts to all who knew and loved him for his rare personal qualities.

He was also one of the best entertainers in the world. Few, if any, could even come close to John Allen Cameron when it came to captivating an audience. I've personally witnessed a sold out concert theatre crowd being lifted up right into the palm of his hand while John Allen performed alone on stage with nothing but his 12 string guitar and an exhortation to dance, dance wherever you may be.

The Godfather of Celtic Music is home at long last conducting the joyous eternal fiddle symphony for The Lord of The Dance Himself.

St. Cecilia's Day is November 22nd incidentally. No mere coincidence in the greater dimensional spiritual spectrum of all things that pass.

Closer to Christmas, news from Nashville of the passing of my former Combine Music rostermate and legendary songwriter, Dennis Linde. In quick succession, the Godfather of Soul James Brown, former US President Gerald R. Ford and 60's country music legend Del Reeves also checked out. And, in Nova Scotia, my old stompin’ ground, the legendary iconic musician Dutch Mason breathed his last blue note.

All in all, a sad passing parade of melancholic rememberances especially of those whom I've known and had personal connection with such as John Allen Cameron and Dennis Linde. Christmas was warm and full of love & life this year for me and my family, but the frequent familiar death notices that became interspersed with the spirit of our sharing and thanksgiving served to remind me in a subtle and yet very powerful way that all is so fleeting and temporary here in this world. Nothing is forever except the love of God.

George Harrison died of cancer about 5 years ago at age 58 having realized clearly many long years earlier the fleeting nature of our temporal life and the ephemeral stardom that surrounded his every waking sensibility. Despite fame, money and the pure adulation of millions, George Harrison's first post-Beatles solo album All Things Must Pass reflected an effusive spiritual statement expressing transcendent values. All Things Must Pass is arguably the most important "solo" Beatle album historically. Certainly it is the most ambitious in its scope and intent emerging as it did from the "quiet" Beatle. Some truly great songs on it. Still his guitar gently weeps.

Art Of Dying
by George Harrison

There'll come a time
When all of us must leave here
Then nothing Sister Mary can do
Will keep me here with you
As nothing in this life that I've been trying
Can equal or surpass the art of dying
Do you believe me?

For my part, I simply count my blessings and try my best to somehow express my deepest gratitude for life to God and my family and other loved ones in attempting to impart meaningful and soulful human purpose wherever I encounter the opportunity. I'm a lucky man.

As George Harrison once put it in 1974 "Why live in the past? Be here now. And now, whether you like me or not, is where I am."

CBS 60 Minutes TV journalist Ed Bradley died just recently too.

Ed Bradley was a great interviewer. One of his last interviews in fact was with Bob Dylan whom Bradley had long wanted to talk with.

Here's the YouTube video clip of that CBS 60 Minutes interview:

Happy New Year.

Stay in touch with the mystery.

The universe is unfolding as it should.

Things should start to get interesting right about now.

Richest Man On Earth

2006-12-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

Reflecting on the many wonderful blessings and good fortune which I’ve been experiencing in my life and music business pursuits lately, a song title of Paul Overstreet’s came to my mind that I think just about says it aIl. I truly do feel like I’m the Richest Man On Earth.

Paul Overstreet is not just the songwriter of Richest Man On Earth, he really lives out his life on earth embracing personal and spiritual values as a man of great dignity and humble grace. His professional stature as a legendary Hall of Fame songwriter has been secured with a string of hit songs that places the name of Paul Overstreet among the very top echelon of elite songwriters in the entire history of the Nashville country music industry. Check this out…

My personal respect for Paul Overstreet is extremely high both for his success as a professional songwriter and for his ethics as a man. Paul has stood tall firstly as a Christian husband and father whose positive example for other songwriters to emulate has been exemplary.

Paul Overstreet’s successful path in his life is every bit as profound and rich as his very succesful journey in the music business has been.

He knows what it means to be the richest man on earth.

Just as I do now today.

Grace & Gravity

Speaking of Grace…and riches too…my good buddy and former SBK colleague Jim McBride and I also had a great opportunity to spend some time together during my recent visit to Nashville. Jim McBride is also a Hall of Fame writer with a string of hits to his credit such as Chattahoochee [Alan Jackson] & Rose In Paradise [Waylon Jennings].

Jim is a personal friend and a favorite writer of mine for his honesty and humble nature as a professional. I have the deepest respect for Jim both as a songwriter and as someone who is just a great guy.

These days Jim operates his own intellectual property business called Copyright Recapture which returns copyrights to songwriters estates.

The photo above of Jim in his office shows him holding up a CD that you might recognize from this website. It’s called Grace & Gravity.

Now whose record do you think that might be I wonder…?

Photo Credits:
Frank Trainor and Paul Overstreet [photo by Jody Williams]
Jim McBride [photo by Frank Trainor]

The Thunder Rolls

2006-12-04T00:33:00.000-07:00

My good friend and soul brother Billy Mason is a world class professional drummer and one of the greatest guys I've ever known in my life.

Billy and his family were close neighbors of ours during our earliest days in Nashville and we became good friends eventually creating a lifelong bond of mutual respect and appreciations in the sharing of our personal struggles, professional aspirations and our ongoing spiritual journey as Christians navigating entertainment industry minefields.

We often shared wonderful family times together with our children having BBQ's and picnic meals together, playing baseball and helping to pick one another up when we felt down or discouraged with the uphill nature of earning some measure of security in the very insecure world of professional music. Our children were all about the same ages and they all got along very well and in the shared hardships of those early years, we supported one another in our situations as family to each other. We're family to this day.

You may not recognize Billy's name, but indeed the world knows my good friend Billy "Thunder" Mason today as Tim McGraw's drummer.

Billy's band, The DanceHall Doctors, have toured with Tim McGraw for over 14 years. The band has recorded with Tim on several of Tim's best selling CD's including many # 1 chart topping hits. Billy Mason has "rolled" live and in the studio now for more than 30 years.

On my recent visit to Nashville, I had the opportunity to spend some great quality time with Billy and his family and we got to catch up on things as it has been a few years since we last saw each other. It was wonderful sharing our personal stories and recounting the memories of our lives and our children's lives. In fact, it was so great that Billy asked of me a special personal request as his friend. He asked me to help him write a book about his life and career in the music business.

I'm honored and grateful to be asked to help write the story of a world reknowned drummer who I knew long before he was famous.

But I'm truly more honored to be able to help my good friend write his very personal and deeply moving story which the world will come to value for it's substance and home truths about family and about a very tough & demanding big league industry that spares no mercy for the pure of heart. Our writing project will bring Billy and I together in a shared enterprise that will include writing some new songs and having Billy play drums on a future CD project of mine.

We're looking forward to sharing in these new creative experiences.

So stay in touch with the mystery as often as you can.

You'll want know all about it when the "Thunder" rolls.

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

2006-11-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Willie Nelson said it best in a famous song that he wrote many years ago..."ain't it funny how time slips away". Indeed! Sergeant Pepper, incidentally, is nearly 40 years old at this point for those who may have assumed that this post was going to be all about The Beatles.

Believe it or not, it's also been more than 40 years since Bob Dylan taught The Band to play and The Beatles how to write "hip" songs.

But, never mind that now...time is money, time is tight and time is running away...and there's no time like the present to offer you here today a truly vivid reminder of a very special time out of mind for me personally by way of a recently added YouTube video clip from the 1986 Juno Awards at which I was a nominee in the major category of Country Male Vocalist of The Year. That now twenty year old clip is entitled Bob Dylan Presents...Juno Award to Gordon Lightfoot.

Watch the clip on the YouTube video directly below. Enjoy!

Bob looks forever young in this old clip and it is compelling for me personally now to realize just how long ago this event occurred as I was seated [as Juno Award nominee] directly in front of the podium where Bob presented Gord with his trophy and was thinking how wise and aged Bob seemed which only means I was so much younger then, I'm older than that now...or something like that...and of course the 20th anniversary date of this memorable event is November 10th and not actually today’s date, but last Friday is fresh enough for "Today".

Anyway, time waits for no man, and it most certainly races by my attentiveness to it, but time had to wait for Bob Dylan on that long ago Juno eve after Anne Murray shocked and surprised the industry crowd by finally showing up at the Juno's after a ten year boycott of the Awards. She was there to announce the presenter of Lightfoot's special award so she delivered a speech and then announced that indeed the 1986 Lifetime Achievement Award was to be presented to Gordon Lightfoot by his personal favorite songwriter, Bob Dylan.

The collective gasp for air was audible and even more oxygenating than the breath intake shock caused by Annie's presence in the hall.

So...big surprise guest #2...Bob Dylan...except there was no Bob for what seemed like an eternity in "live" time. Bob apparently got a bit confused behind the multi-layered "smoke obscured" stage backdrop and couldn't quite navigate his way to the podium area right away.

Eventually, he found an opening and managed to give a little speech praising Gord and burying him all at the same time before politely announcing Gord himself and presenting the award to him after which he split right away to less distracting confines backstage.

It was a funny moment for the assembled and probably not as long a time in the journey from backstage to the podium as it seemed to us in the hall, but it's a special memory for me personally since I was up for an award myself that night after all so the event has crystallized.

But to be directly in front of the podium where Bob Dylan spoke and to be there the year Anne Murray finally showed up at last, and to be there for Gordon Lightfoot's induction into the Juno Hall of Fame all in one night, was indeed a very special and now precious moment in time to fondly reflect back upon. In his great 1964 song To Ramona, Bob Dylan sings "...everything passes ...everything changes..."

Indeed it does Bobby, indeed it does...and as Willie Nelson also sang so very long ago "...ain't it funny how time slips away..."

Thankfully sometimes...if we're lucky....it’s not a moment too soon.

Gallery Focus: In keeping with the overall theme of tributes & memories, let's review Looking Back from Tributes & Memories. You'll see a great photo at the top of that page of my good friend Garry “Duke” Paget and his lovely wife Peggy...Mrs. “Duke”... Garry and Peggy were in attendance at the awards as my good friends and supporters...smile folks...you're in the Gallery Focus.

Also check out Bob Dylan from the same Tributes & Memories [Gallery #7]...there's two photos on that page…one of Bob at the podium and one of my wife Linda and me both taken from TV video of the Juno's that night...we were seated directly in front of Bob.

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

2006-11-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

It was an honor and my distinct pleasure to be invited to attend the NSAI [Nashville Songwriters Association International] 37th Annual Hall of Fame Banquet which was held this year on October 22nd in the Grand Ballroom at The Renaissance Hotel in Nashville.

This major annual event on the NSAI calendar represents for all songwriters the true crowning glory of honor towards great icons of our professional craft and as such, it is always a very gratifying and deeply humbling experience for everyone who participates.

Presented by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, the dinner and ceremony features formal induction of writers into the Hall of Fame from two categories: Category 1 honors songwriters whose first significant work occurred 20 or more years ago and Category 2 honors Songwriter/Artists whose first significant work occurred 20 or more years ago. There are two songwriters inducted from a short list of selected nominees in Category 1 & one songwriter/artist inducted from Category 2. This year’s songwriter inductions were greats Hugh Prestwood & Jim Weatherly. Songwriter/Artist was Jimmy Buffett.

Music Row magazine has a complete scoop of the evening's entire proceedings and even mentions my name in its "who's who" review of notable songwriters in attendance. It was kind of the reviewer to note me among songwriters & industry icons such as Darrell Scott, Pam Rose and Mark Wright, but in all humility, they much more than I, truly deserve mentions for stellar careers which I cannot claim.

I'm just very happy and deeply honored to even be mentioned in the same sentence or article with these amazing talents and icons of our creative business.

Just click on the Music Row thumbnail image at left to enlarge the page and read all about it. Tricia Yearwood was there of course & sang Hugh Prestwood's classic The Song Remembers When, along with other stars such as Big & Rich, Michael Johnson, Skip Ewing and of course Jimmy Buffett.

The list of nominees from both categories eligible for Hall of Fame induction this year included legendary Songwriter/Artists John Hiatt, Tony Joe White and J.J. Cale [writer of After Midnight and Cocaine]. I figured it to be J.J. Cale's night when Eric Clapton emerged from an elevator in the lobby of the hotel just prior to our reception, but it turned out to be Jimmy Buffett's night instead.

On the personal front, it was fantastic to reunite again with many great friends and former colleagues such as Jim McBride whose famous hit songs include Chatahootchie [Alan Jackson] and a great Waylon Jennings favorite Rose In Paradise.

Also, Tony Hazleton, Wayland Holyfield, Richard Leigh, Bob Beckham, Jody Williams, Del Bryant, Manuel and many more.

Robert K. Oermann too, the music critic who once gave me a review in Music Row magazine with the following quote: "Sign me up for the fan club...a voice full of heart and an A+ for songwriting"... Robert K. Oermann is a country music historian, journalist /critic and once was a judge on Nashville Star.

All in all, the 2006 NSAI Hall of Fame dinner was a great event with many warm encounters between old friends and new including my tablemates for dinner, Dr. David Murph and his son Dan. David is on the advisory board of the Nashville Songwriters Foundation. David and Dan and I became fast friends. It was my honor to be seated with these distinguished gentlemen and I enjoyed meeting them both.

Stay tuned for more Nashville related stories and photos from my Music Row journey as the spirit moves and the tale unfolds.

In Touch With The Mystery

2006-10-15T02:33:00.000-06:00

The Muse that never ages was born in my soul in 1972 when I stepped off a greyhound bus in Nashville Tennessee with kitbag & guitar in hand hoping to find Kris Kristofferson & Music Row. 15 years later, I was signed as a writer to Combine Music…Kris’s home on the Row… famous for years among songwriters as The House Of Quill Repute.

Events which led me to that profound experience in my life and songwriting career did not occur merely by chance. Becoming a professional songwriter was written in my soul from the beginning as the countless hours and long years of struggle to perfect my craft now prove testimony to my toil. Gifts which are neither cheap nor free to abuse without consequence haunt my life daily in the absense of a real culture within which to enhance them. The sad state of our cultural reality today does not negate however the powerful pulsing of love in the vein so there is no time to waste in the headlong thrust towards destiny. So mark these words, that destiny is being fulfilled at every level and at every conceivable point a person can imagine.

It’s midnight in Nashville…empty streets…all night bus terminal festering with the tension and the baggage. What’s that sound?

It’s my heart beating. Broken, but still in touch with the mystery…

Gallery Focus: Frank Trainor Music is more than a songwriter's vision or craft material of an artist's repertoire. For me it is and always will be a way of life…click on the link to read A Way of Life

Little Steven's Underground Garage

2006-10-09T21:59:00.000-06:00

Welcome Freaks, Misfits and Outcasts...
To the subjective dysfunctional family of Garage

The Journey...come along if you dare...

Take a ride to the land inside of your mind with host Little Steven, Ted Nugent and the mystery girl to rediscover your soul baby...

Then check this out Episode 235: Howl '06

Note: Scroll to last week's archived program [Episode 235 Howl '06] click Jukebox button ...hear the program opening stuff then listen to the opening song Down On The Boulevard ...cool jazz sax wails and Little Steven airs the following profound and loquacious soliloquy.

October 7th is a high holy day on the calendar of cool for it is on that date1955 in a small art gallery and former auto repair shop near the intersection of Union and Fillmore in San Francisco called the Sixth Gallery that Alan Ginsberg introduced a poem called Howl to 150 freaks, misfits and outcasts high on the burgundy sip from the three jugs that Jack Kerouac passed the hat to pay for. Now you might ask, in this world of all art being measured by opening weekend box office and all success measured by the quarterly corporate bottom line, who cares about a poem and what the hell is poetry anyway?

There’s no money in it.

Unless somebody creates a reality TV show around it, it ain’t gonna make it to the water cooler my friend …or Page 6 or Entertainment Tonight. But that is a world you and I refuse to live in because we know better. We know something that mainstream culture has long forgotten. Corporate America survives by suppressing & Wall Street has never known the most important things in life can’t be explained in high ratings, revealed in a profit and loss statement or discovered in marketing research. Great art illuminates life by its mystery and that is why business men despise the creative people they depend on, underpay, exploit and ultimately destroy.

Because creators are in touch with the mystery and because of that connection creators create amazing and beautiful and life affirming and potentially very profitable things out of thin air…blank canvass… empty pages…the very common mundane numbers, letters, pictures & sounds all around us that mean nothing until put into a form that communicates. And ultimately all art communicates one single message and that is eternity. And that is real power and the bosses that control this planet are jealous of it. They know they are frauds.

They know that the only reason that they have a job is because the genius that hired them was a fraud just like them. They will never have real power because they create nothing. They will never be secure because they have no real identity & they’ll keep the working people of this planet tortured, frustrated…too tired to think and mired in the quicksand of spiritual bankruptcy forever.

There is no revolution that will ever overthrow them. The only true revolution is to learn to live without them…among them …but not with them. It is a revolution that takes place within first…then in the embrace of likeminded angel headed hipsters …and finally, in the understanding and acceptance of the transcendent redemptive positive energy of love…and Howl explains all that.

Highway 61 Revisited follows immediately afterward...all of which is just way too cool for the mainstream pulse baby...beyond the seas of thought...beyond the realm of what and definitely not about the destination...it's about the journey baby...come along if you care.

Talking Points: It appears I'm not alone in my critique of Bob Dylan's latest Modern Times. Here's some of what Amazon music reviewer Lance G. Rigley of Brisbane, Queensland Australia says in his recent review entitled Am I Missing Something Here - Why Bother Bob?
"...The most disappointing, mediocre and lifeless set of songs from one of the most influential and truly great singer/songwriters of all time. Technically competent and about as potent as a glass of water. You cannot say that the Murph and The MagicTones sound of his touring band is understated, it is underdone. Why bother...?"

Spotlight: Little Steven aka Silvio Dante

Modern Times

2006-09-03T18:59:00.000-06:00

For what it's worth, here is my early impression of Bob Dylan's latest studio record Modern Times. Most of the 10 songs are kickin' well worn 3 chord country blues patterns mainly in B flat except for the final track Ain't Talkin' which is in the exciting key of G sharp minor.

Someday Baby sounds like a warmed over revamped acoustic version of McKinley Morganfield's Trouble No More a great old song covered by The Allman Brothers Band more than 35 years ago, but it is far less potent than that solid rockin' blues strut of the early 1970's.

Other "lifts" Bob makes here include Rollin' and Tumblin' which blatantly "borrows" title & soul from the late, great Elmore James.

Modern Times indeed. More love & theft goin' on here than on the actual Love & Theft CD itself it would seem. How did Bob once put it in his song Sweetheart Like You...? "Steal a little and they throw you in jail...steal a lot and they make you a king". But I digress.

I'll tell you, if Bob's current shows were even remotely like his new CD I'd simply stay home and just listen to the record. Better yet, I'd just pull out The Allman Brothers Band at the Fillmore East and take my pure rockin' country blues medicine straight up like a man.

In fact, I think I'll do just that very thing right now...please welcome The Allman Brothers Band …[crowd roars]...I feel better already.

Bob Dylan's live show rocks...so where's that energy on this new record...? Several songs on Modern Times feel like half-hearted performances of Moonlight from Love & Theft but without the brilliant musical dynamics and amazing songs on that stunning CD.

I love Moonlight...it's an original and classy "crooner" ballad from a landmark instant classic Bob Dylan record, but who wants an entire new album of shuffling country blues tunes all played & sung in the same flat key? Modern Times is boring, predictable and dull sounding to my ears. Not Bob's lyric powers. He's Bob Dylan for God's sake. He created the contemporary singer/songwriter template he emulates.

Bob can write songs. He knows how to do that far better than any writer alive and seldom disappoints as he continues on his journey to get as far away from himself as he can, but Things Have Changed.

The man behind the curtain has stuck his head out here now just far enough to reveal his most basic craft tricks. All good stuff, but you can just give me Cold Irons Bound, Down In The Flood, Cry Awhile, Lonesome Day Blues, Mississippi and Standing In The Doorway.

Try recreating those sometime. The art is not as easy as it seems.

I will say, that because most songs on Modern Times are 3 chord country blues in B flat, it was really easy playing along with the tunes. I put the CD on...grabbed the guitar and played it as if I was working on the sessions....solo parts too...very nice songs for doing that especially since they need to be easy for my stumbling lead parts.

Still boring stuff though...the same low energy, the same flat key and 3 chord patterns for every song....I'm really disappointed by a lack of verve and variety that I was expecting...makes me appreciate the rich beauty of Love & Theft even more as it may now stand as the last truly great album Bob Dylan [Jack Frost] ever produced.

Modern Times sure isn't. No matter what tonally challenged music critics and some pontificating Dylan "experts" might say. Sure there are interesting lyric catches here and there, but these songs sound like the "B" sides and worthwhile carryovers from canned sessions.
Sessions that did not include Larry Campbell or Charlie Sexton with all due respect to Stu Kimball, Denny Freeman & Donnie Herron.

Not that there's anything wrong with that when you're talking about Bob Dylan, but I was expecting something the hype hasn’t delivered. The mellow tapestry weaved by Bob on Modern Times is fine as far as it goes, and it is not in fact a bad album, but as a unique creative benchmark its a far cry from Time Out Of Mind and a few light years behind the absolutely brilliant and truly remarkable Love & Theft.

Then again, we've come to expect these inconsistent revelations and brilliant song gems from an artist who has never failed to deliver at least one masterpiece on every album of his career over a 42 year span of creative output...an artist who is still touring, still recording and still evolving as an artist at the age of 65. That itself is brilliant.

So we'll give this one to the man...he deserves it. Thank you, Bob.

Talking Points: Personal Bob Dylan recommendations include the following albums: Time Out Of Mind, Love & Theft, BioGraph, Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, Blood On The Tracks, Bringing It All Back Home, Desire, Another Side Of Bob Dylan, and John Wesley Harding. Also, the new bio/doc No Direction Home.

Spotlight: Amazon.com has their Modern Times order page up now with a great bonus feature video clip of Bob Dylan and His Band performing Cold Irons Bound from 2003’s Masked and Anonymous. Click on the Cold Irons Bound link above and scroll down. Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget to turn up your speakers....it's a great performance.

The Crimson Fireball

2006-08-07T18:48:00.000-06:00

Mark this vision while you can
It won't pass this way again
Grace & Gravity will spin
When the tide comes rushin' in

Oceans will rise and time will stall
Souls will surely die with no hope after all
Their lost horizons won't recall
The life they knew between the risin' and the fall
Of The Crimson Fireball

I know you can't bear to be dismayed
But this inferno can't be swayed
The good life ain't about just gettin' laid or paid
Wisdom is survival's way

Blood may rush but it won’t quell
The ragin' fire in every heart that knows too well
You can rip the peals from the bell
But it'll be too late to block the road to hell
When the ground begins to swell

The Crimson Fireball is looming in the sky
Heaven's mercy and good luck to us all
When the well starts runnin' dry
A beat poet songwriter warned long ago
That a hard rain's a-gonna fall
So hang on and save your spirit if you can
From The Crimson Fireball

"The Crimson Fireball" by Frank Trainor
Copyright 2006 Frank Trainor Music Inc.

1966
I have long maintained in my discussions with music lovers over the years that while 1967 was indeed a groundbreaking year in pop/rock, 1966 was in fact a much more creative and seminal artistic moment notwithstanding Sgt. Pepper and that hippy "summer of love".

The Beatles had created far more interesting work before that much hyped and highly profiled album which is a fine record but not as good a collection of songs quite frankly as Revolver. In any event, I've always argued that 1966 was the year that pop/rock art went SuperNova and certainly that's when the forever cool and indelible artistic landscape of pop/rock greatness was launched with records like Revolver by The Beatles, Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys and Blonde On Blonde by Bob Dylan.

1966 was a highpoint for pop/rock innovation and a creative watershed moment in contemporary modern music history.

And my absolute favorite year for radio as a young listener.

Need more proof...check it out

Spotlight: It is difficult to explain the wacky world of James Lileks without prior reference to his work so let me just go ahead and say that this slightly quirky, creative genius is one of my favorite writers currently working in the realm of arcane and ephemeral nostalgia and outright folksy whimsy [you'll get it more when you read him].

Lileks’ site www.lileks.com has to be properly explored to be fully appreciated but I'm telling you, you won't believe the fun you'll have. For starters, read The Bleat...then you may wish to proceed directly to The Institute of Official Cheer where you will discover a link to The Grooviest Motel in Wisconsin and have revealed before your very eyes a full pictorial tour of The Gobbler Motel...you heard that correctly but it's impossible to explain until you actually see and read the entire section on this catastrophe of a mid-20th century motel concept in full color photos and running commentary and analysis. You'll love all the gallery sections and Lileks' witty comments and you'll burst out laughing so be careful if you're reading Lileks while eating or drinking your soda...you don't want to splaying food and drink all over the wall in a fit of hilarity and guffaws...heh, heh.

Oh, and just one more final thing...

Be aware of that obscure red orb dying in a corner of the sky…

It just might be a killer...

The Times They Are A-Changin'

2006-07-30T15:56:00.000-06:00

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside and it's ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'

The Times They Are A-Changin’
Copyright 1963 Bob Dylan
Renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
From the 1964 Columbia album
The Times They Are A-Changin'

Gallery Focus: Tributes & Memories Gallery #7 Bob Dylan
There were three kings and a jolly three too. The first one had a broken nose, the second a broken arm and the third was broke. “Faith is the key!” said the first king. “No, froth is the key!” said the second. “You’re both wrong,” said the third, “the key is Frank!”

Only A Pawn In Their Game

2006-07-24T20:50:00.000-06:00

Liberal democrats and mainstream media mouthpieces in Canada and the United States currently expounding on the need for the west to revert back to the days of "peace" agreements in war torn Israel and Lebanon is like listening to the frantic shipwrecked survivors of the "Minnow" on Gilligan’s Island devising their silly plans to be rescued.

We all know the fate of that fearless crew.

Yet, elitist pundits are desperately trying to figure out how America can best be rescued from the wreckage of an evolving Middle East situation which, given the radical sea changes now occurring in that part of the world, will more equitably balance the equation against Islamofascist terror in its drive to reign over the entire middle east.

Of course, leftist pundits, without any actual connection with the real world beyond their isolated little Islands in the stream, remain hopelessly lost and adrift in the remote shallows of their doctrinaire equivalency ideology with no tangible hope for a safe return to the Promised Land where everyone's still "thinkin’ about tommorrow".

Luckily, there's no way at this point that the west will return to the suicidal accommodations of such a treacherous status quo solution.

The old models have been irrevocably destroyed forever and nothing in the world will ever be the same again. Nor should it be. The game is up and malevolent terrorist strategies have been clearly exposed for what they've been all along. The Palestinian issue is a convenient wedge for opportunistic state sponsors of terror whose aim it is to completely dominate life as the major power in the middle east.

That deceptive wedge is finally realized as only a pawn in their game.

Islamofascist Jihadists consider their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters as nothing more than cannon fodder for their deadly cult whose aim is the destruction and annihilation of western civilization.

Terrorist organization Hezzbolah is in control of Southern Lebanon and acting upon direct orders from its terrorist state sponsors Iran and Syria. They have proclaimed full, all out war against Israel and America. Terrorist threats of Hezzbolah and Hamas are not about creating real hope for Palestinians any more than they are about providing a lasting peace for Lebanon which is a weak structural alliance of competing religious and secular factions within Lebanon's ad hoc governing coalition providing the greatest opportunity for terrorism to become irrevocably entrenched as the dominant ideological and political force in the entire middle east.

Hezzbolah and Hamas are mere knights and rooks in the apocalyptic nightmare adventures of Islamofascist Jihadist states Iran and Syria.

The cause of Palestinians is only a pawn in their game.

Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught
They lowered him down as a king
But when the shadowy sun sets on the one
That fired the gun
They'll see by his grave
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain: Only a pawn in their game

Only A Pawn In Their Game
Copyright 1963 Bob Dylan
Renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
From the 1964 Columbia album
The Times They Are A-Changin'

Talking Points: Finally, the world is accepting that the Middle East problem was never about so-called occupied land -- but only about the existence of Israel itself. Hezbollah and Hamas, and those in their midst who tolerate them (or vote for them), didn't so much want Israel out of Lebanon and Gaza as pushed into the Mediterranean altogether. And since there will be no second Holocaust, the Israelis may well soon transform a perennial terrorist war they can't easily win into a conventional aerial one against a terrorist-sponsoring Syria that they can… The Washington Times

Discover more illuminations and insights… Victor Davis Hanson

h/t small dead animals

Spotlight: Former leftist radical turned brilliant conservative activist David Horowitz is a creative force for good with his positive efforts to educate people regarding the true nature of the real evils we face in our troubled western civilization. David's Front Page Mag website is one of the best resources for comprehensive cultural information and intellectual argumentation concerning the most vital and deeply important issues enveloping the world today. Help support the right cause in our collective fight for freedom & justice in the world by contributing to Front Page Mag at this time. Our support is needed.

I am pledging at the $100.00 level to David Horowitz at this time as I truly believe in his sincere and rightful purposes at Front Page Mag.

Read David Horowitz's urgent message at this Newsmax link

God Bless David Horowitz and Front Page Mag for the tireless work he and his site perform in exposing the networks that seek to destroy our American freedoms and our traditional way of life. Freedom is never free. Something worth remembering at this point in history.

Visit Front Page Mag in my Scribes & Illuminators sidebar area.

Bucko Trainor

2006-07-21T20:26:00.000-06:00

Wes "Bucko" Trainor was Prince Edward Island's lone contributor to the National Hockey League during his era, and only the third Islander to enter the NHL, performing at centre ice for the top forward line of the New York Rangers.

As centre man and right winger, Bucko Trainor achieved the Big Time with the 1949 New York Rangers, wearing number 14. In the words of Rangers coach Lynn Patrick, "If all the boys hustled like Bucko Trainor, this team wouldn't look so bad."

Learn more about Wes "Bucko" Trainor at PEI Sport Hall of Fame.

Gallery Focus: There is something undeniable in the Trainor genetic code that compells our tough lineage to aspire to great heights of achievement and success despite impossibly difficult challenges.

Check out the first installment of our new Gallery Focus feature.

Hangin' Tough is from Nashville Gallery [#5] at franktrainor.com

Life in Nashville was good. I was enjoying meeting so many great and talented people, I was writing songs for a living, performing at The Bluebird Cafe and other live venues, enjoying a very happy family life and scoping out career prospects which were slowly beginning to take shape. At a certain point however, Combine was sold to a larger New York publishing corporation known as SBK. Priorities began to change drastically from within the corporate environment as well as within myself. I was beginning to feel less and less inspired as a corporate songwriter and more motivated to expand boundaries of my own vision... Read the whole story at Hangin' Tough

Have Gun Will Travel

2006-07-16T14:54:00.000-06:00

"I gotta lotta respect for a gun" - Jack Fate

Not only did he always vanquish his foe in a gunfight, Paladin often decided beforehand whether he would merely wound the unlucky man or kill him! If his opponent was evil enough, he'd be wasted; Paladin accepted the fact that he had the power of life and death -- he quite clearly played God, and did not take that responsibility lightly. It's also clear that he was, for all practical purposes, as talented at his craft as anyone. On occasion he would get wounded in a fair fight, but if he did, you could be sure his opponent would be shot dead. Based on his demeanor and his deeds, Paladin obviously knew he need fear no man; he reigned at the summit of the gunslinging food-chain, and he understood that truth completely. Paladin... hgwt

Have Gun Will Travel

One of these days you'll wake up in a world not standing still
To see that weeds have grown beyond your window sill

All the paint upon your silos then will be cracked & chipped & peeled
And all your heavy tools of harvest will be rusting in your field

I'll be movin' on down a clear cut road towards the risin' sun
To find that brighter mornin's work that's never done

I've tilled my soil in season here but I won't reap my season's run
Until I pack this ground beneath my feet and load my travellin' gun

Have gun will travel
Bad news for Babylon
This Troubadour moves on
With every song
My mark is seldom missed
My target's emptiness
Five bullets for its nest
And one between its eyes

Have Gun Will Travel
copyright 2006 Frank Trainor

This Human Passion

2006-07-09T21:19:00.000-06:00

Ain't got no time for wastin' time no more
And I got no reason for evenin' up the score
Just one more day and I'll be in my sweet Heaven
Just one more night of livin' with this human passion

"This Human Passion"
Copyright 2005 Frank Trainor/Road Skolar Music Publishing
from the InDepth Records CD The Comfort Sound Sessions

Something completely unexpected happened to me this past week which had a truly profound impact on my sensitive artist’s soul.

I was emotionally catapulted back to when I was a young songwriter just beginning my professional music journey in the very early 1970's.

You see, I'm secretly teaching myself to play lead guitar these days by playing along with the music programming on digital TV channels. This is very unusual for me as I have never really been compelled to play lead guitar as a songwriter/artist. I’ve always sung and played rhythm guitar, so the idea of actually sitting down and struggling to learn this new single note approach to the instrument after 35 years of songwriting and playing music on guitar my whole life feels a little bit strange at this late point to say the least. I’m totally self-taught.

So there I was, fumbling around on the frets like a rank beginner searching for mystery scales previously undiscovered and switching around on the channels between rock, country, folk, blues, adult alternative and songs from the 70's and 80's. I had just landed on the country station when out of the blue a song came on that sounded strangely familiar to my ears. So, I located the key and the chords and started to play along. Suddenly I realized that it was a song of mine that I had written 35 years ago and which Canada’s top country group of that time, The Mercey Brothers, had a hit with in 1973.

My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was trying to play along to a song that I had actually written myself when I was only 17 years old.

The experience stunned me as it made me consciously aware of just how long I've been at this game of songwriting and how long I've been at home on this long highway journey called the road of life. My very own early days song, performed by a now long since retired & famed country band, playing to me alone in my living room on the digital TV channel while I patiently searched around for the lost chord. Unreal.

I put the guitar down and thought about all the years in between.

This was my first ever recording of one of my very early songs.

Indeed, I have mostly forgotten about it in the years since it was a radio hit. The fact that it was even getting airplay at this late point surprised me to tell you the truth. But, there it was and there I was. Curiously unaware that it was even my own song for a second or two.

It was a very strange experience especially since I’ve been used to hearing my songs and my records played on radio for many years.

This was different. This was a ghost from my long ago past wearing a disguise as an old gold country hit. That spirit reintroduced itself.

It caused me to pause and appreciate all the things a man ought to be eternally grateful for and it made me reflect on my long journey in life creating magic with these God given gifts of songwriting talent and music. The art and craft of forging melodies with tuneful lyrics.

I am truly blessed.

The song was called Our Lovin' Times and it was written way back in 1971, recorded by The Mercey Brothers and released to radio on the RCA Victor label. It was a country radio hit in 1973 and is included on a Greatest Hits RCA album called The Best Of The Mercey Brothers.

Merle Haggard was singing by the time I snapped back into this present dimension "...are the good times really over for good..."

Not quite yet, Merle...the highway's still my home.

The Road Skolar

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy

2006-07-05T23:43:00.000-06:00

One of the most interesting and authoritative new sites focused on The Beatles and their legacy is Beatles Today. Beatles Today is the world's only Beatles News and Opinion Magazine on the Internet.

With regular columnists such as Mersey Beat founder Bill Harry and noted Beatles historian Martin Lewis, Beatles Today provides its readers with news and opinion on The Beatles from the most richly informed and historically balanced perspectives that one could ever imagine. Beatles Today relates first hand experiences and direct involvement with The Beatles and their management/support team as well as providing current Beatles related news and important Beatles information and items of interest from around the world.

Beatles Today contributing columnists include Mitchell Symons [British writer and journalist], Bruce Spizer [Beatles author and historian], David Haber [Beatles Webmaster], Paul Saltzman [photographer, filmmaker, author of The Beatles In India] and Seth Swirsky [hit songwriter, author and recording artist].

Beatles Today is a relatively new venture which I've had linked in my sidebar section called The Box for quite awhile now and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it on each and every visit. It's great!

Seth Swirsky is also a regular contributor to Real Clear Politics among other pages as an opinion writer. A recent column of Seth's on the contrast between George Bush's decency and class compared with the incivility of Democrats caught my attention recently.

Here's that link: Bush's Decency Highlights Democrats Incivility

Seth is a Beatles fan obviously [he is a pro songwriter after all] and we songwriters get The Beatles "up on another level" as Bob Dylan might put it. But Seth is also a writer of books and seems a refined and respectful artist with a love of family and a fond appreciation of cool baseball memorabilia among other interesting pursuits.

Check out Seth’s unique site and read some of his great stories.

Especially enjoy the one about his meeting George Harrison.

I'd love to have that one stored in my own memory bank.

Talking Points: Here's two Beatles related links from The Box

Being There

The Lost Beatles

Spotlight: On New Things. Kindest thanks this week to two fellow intellectual conservative religious bloggers for adding FRANKtalk to their sites. Rerum Novarum is a wonderful in depth forum on topics ranging from politics and war to traditional Catholic faith, theology and Church history among other things, not the least of which is Shawn McElhinney's love of blues guitar music and its progenitors.

Shawn kicked off his Rerum Novarum blogpost of Wednesday, June 28, 2006 with his regular Points to Ponder feature by quoting a line from a song of mine called When The Tide Comes Rushin' In taken from my current Grace & Gravity CD. Here's the line: "It ain't the time to learn how to swim when the tide comes rushin' in…"

FRANKtalk is now linked at Rerum Novarum.

Thanks for the links and kind appreciations Shawn. Rerum Novarum is the definition of a true intellectual conservative vision with a traditional Catholic theological basis. For those with the requisite hunger and the acquired taste, a veritable smorgasbord. Enjoy!

Another new link partner to FRANKtalk is Western World Politics now known as WWP.com based in Manchester, Lancashire, UK. The new web home of WWP. Discussion of news, current affairs, the war on terror and developments in the culture war. Proudly pro-family, pro-American and pro-freedom. Comments are strongly encouraged.

Thanks to WWP editor Michael for his kind respect and appreciation in adding FRANKtalk and franktrainor.com to his website as well.

Quote of the Month-- "It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of my musical perception." - Albert Einstein (when asked about his theory of relativity). Very perceptive Albert…ain't it the truth.

Frank Trainor

I'm Your Man

2006-06-18T18:01:00.000-06:00

June 22/06 marks the first anniversary of this humble online journal blogspot otherwise known as FRANKtalk. It's been a real slice so far and hopefully we'll continue to be able to inform and entertain as we continue on our journey of musical and philosophical illuminations.

I wish to thank all of you who have taken time to read and review FRANKtalk on a regular basis this past year and thanks also to those very intelligent and highly creative bloggers who have honored me with supportive links to FRANKtalk at their own wonderful blog sites including Right Wing Bob, Small Dead Animals, Pro Ecclesia, The Great Pumpkin, Faithmouse, Either Orr, Let Freedom Reign and more who were early to recognize the unique spirit of my efforts.

Thanks as well to all of you who have bought and supported my music via CD & download purchases at our InDepth Links and via my other singer/songwriter website www.franktrainor.com The year ahead will encompass many surprising changes and much news in regards to my ongoing business and creative enterprises so you'll want to stay tuned for what's been developing here at FRANKtalk.

We're going to have some fun this coming year. I've been writing and producing some more new music for you too as there are a handful of exciting new songs already getting a lot of serious attention recently.

There will also be a few unexpected moves and some surprising news announcements made this coming year which will hopefully serve to inspire further recognition and acceptance of our creative purposes.

As has been the case since day one, I will continue to post on topics of passionate interest and concern in those areas of my experience and involvement that I think you’d appreciate & enjoy reading about.

I’m an artist. What I cover may not be widely appreciated by the masses. That’s ok... you like the novelty of my unique twist.

And that's what counts.

In the meantime, it's Fathers Day and everybody's wounded...

First We Take Manhattan

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those

You loved me as a loser, now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I don't like your fashion business mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby ...

And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I am guided

Ah remember me, I used to live for music
Remember me, I brought your groceries in
Well it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

First We Take Manhattan by Leonard Cohen
Copyright 1988 Stranger Music, Inc.
from the album "I'm Your Man"

Hinterland: Who's Who

2006-06-15T22:57:00.000-06:00

The Fox
The fox has been called bold, cunning and deceitful. In fact, the fox is shy, secretive, and nervous by disposition, but he appears to be highly intelligent. The fox has excellent eyesight, a keen sense of smell and acute hearing which helps him greatly when hunting.

The slight movement of an ear may be all he needs to locate a hidden rodent. Sometimes he waits patiently for the sound of a rodent moving along its path in grass or snow and then pounces.

The fox’s den is often an abandoned woodchuck burrow, but it may be a hollow log, a patch of dense bush, or a customized excavation under a barn or other structure. Stream banks, hedge rows and forest edges are favored locations. Dens are kept insulated and often will have more than one entrance to permit fast escape from danger.

Fast Fox [a poem by Frank Trainor]

How do you do...Fast Fox is my name
My incursions are swift and direct
I'm efficient and stealthy with instincts so true
Even jungle cats give me respect

Fast Fox is the name...consider my game
These woods are my natural home
My den's in the holler up beyond Poison Creek
Where the rattlesnakes tend to their young

I'm a scavenger...I do what I have to do
When the scent of a rodent drifts up from the scum
My hunger gnaws deep for the blood from its meat
Til I've captured and eaten me some

With surprise my advantage… my jaw as a snare
My tail "white" waves in the sun
I've never seen famine that didn't bring feast
On the heels of a "do or die" run

I snag my prey quickly...then head for my den
To avoid running into a gun
The grandstand play might be your pleasure and sport
Eating "Kill" is my way to have fun

Fast Fox is my name...I'm wily and smart
My head don't adorn many trophies or plaques
You won't see my coat on no fireplace floor
I'm a master at shuffling my tracks

Badgers and wolverines study my ways
I give every dog a good chase
I never grow tired of my circular path
That competitors think is a race

Fast Fox is my moniker...or just call me chump
But you'll find me wherever you hide
At the end of a hollow log or up on a stump
It really don't matter that much to my pride

So how do you do...I've been waiting for you
I can tell you're a "hunter" by trade
Sure, I'm easy prey...go ahead...fire away
I'm already digesting you here in the shade

Fast Fox is my handle...I must thank you again
For the spirit and heart of your game
You'll be well remembered for stalking my lair
But survival is my claim to fame

FAST FOX Copyright 2006 FrankTrainor

Speaking of Foxes: Our regular Talking Points and Spotlight features combine at FRANKtalk this week in honor of the hottest conservative pundit on the planet right now. Ann Coulter, whose latest book "Godless: The Church Of Liberalism" debuts this very week at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller List, is an American publishing phenomenon and a vixen. A regular guest on Fox network programs such as Hannity & Colmes, Ann's been a personal favorite for years. Check out Ann's website at my Scribes & Illuminators sidebar. In the meantime, here's a couple of current spotlight links regarding Ann Coulter to get you in the right conservative spirit.

Coulter Delivers Knockout

News & Commentary: by Ann Coulter

InDepth Records News

2006-06-11T23:36:00.000-06:00

More InDepth Records news this week as our dedicated online label partner ItsAboutMusic reports that my published catalog of Americana/Country songs is now being distributed by the most successful brand name digital music download sites in the world.

Songs from each of my three digitally remastered CD's can now be easily purchased through the following cool digital download sites: Napster, iTunes, eMusic, SonyConnect, Audio LunchBox, Sandbar, KarmaDownload, GroupieTunes and of course, ItsAboutMusic.com

More sites are picking up Frank Trainor music almost weekly now and all links will be added at FRANKtalk as my music is available.

Our distribution partner sites are the most successful name brand marketers of digital download music and ringtones in the world.

My current CD is called Grace & Gravity. Two previous records are Playin' Down At The Hollywood and The Comfort Sound Sessions. Order all three CD's direct from www.franktrainor.com or purchase songs from one of our download sites at our InDepth Links sidebar.

Napster, iTunes and Sandbar are licensed for Grace & Gravity while Audio LunchBox, SonyConnect, KarmaDownload, GroupieTunes, eMusic and ItsAboutMusic are licensed for all three of my albums.

Hope you enjoy listening to my music and thank you for supporting my efforts as an independent professional songwriter/music artist.

Frank Trainor

A Troubadour Revisited

2006-06-02T00:31:00.000-06:00

My journey back to Charlottetown, PEI Canada for our ECMA week Songwriter Summit events this past February was a time of much reflective emotion and deep spiritual reconnection for me as many old friends and former music mates discovered each other again during this special gathering of songwriters and musicians from around our home town and from all around Atlantic Canada.

In my own case, it's been 30 long years since I left my birthplace of Charlottetown for the wilds of Toronto and Nashville, Tennessee. I've been back to visit on several occasions although I have not always had the opportunity to touch base with other songwriter/artists with whom I share musical roots. This is because performing/songwriters and musicians of our generation usually had to leave the east coast in order to seek viable professional opportunities in the music business.

Bonnie LeClair is one of those artists. Bonnie is a very talented singer/songwriter and a sweet, special person. She's also one hell of a fine acoustic guitar player and was great even at 15 when she and I both performed in our early 70’s singing group The Troubadours.

Bonnie also lived in Toronto for a number of years and she has enjoyed a wealth of experience as an artist and dancer, performing in theatrical & musical touring revues along with performing her music and songs on stages around the country with some big names like Gordon Lightfoot, Valdy and more. Bonnie LeClair has written songs with artists such as Ron Sexsmith among others so her professional experience and credentials as a songwriter/artist are solid. She's a "heart" person and a wonderful talent.

The Heart Rules is the title of Bonnie's latest CD and it’s a beautiful collection of songs which I recommend to anyone so if you'd care to purchase it you can contact Bonnie through this site's email address and I will forward your requests on to her personally.

I'm sure she would be delighted and very happy to receive your interest in her songwriting and wonderful music. You'll love it!

Lucian “Lucky” LeRoux, Bonnie LeClair, Frank Trainor & Scott Parsons

Walk Away Renee: It's not often that I hear or read anything these days about The Left Banke whose seminal avant garde 60's classic Walk Away Renee still haunts my mind 40 years after it was a hit. So this recent article was great to discover as it tells the story of the sonically original band and the hit record that exploded their dreams for what very well may be the first time ever. Why it's also valuable information for me to learn about personally at this point is because I actually met the group in 1966 when they came to my hometown to perform a winter carnival event for our university. The promoter had arranged for the group to sign autographs and hang out with fans at a local department store. This was a major music buzz for me as I loved Walk Away Renee but it also seemed amazing and unlikely to me at the time that a hit group on the radio would ever visit tiny Prince Edward Island and actually hang out with their fans. Believe it or not, hardly anybody showed up so I was the most interested music nut of about ten other kids who came out to meet The Left Banke who were not really big stars, but who at least cared enough to come to Charlottetown, PEI. I was not only there and hanging out, I had a camera and a thousand questions to ask these guys about life as rock stars which was crucial information to me since I too would someday be wearing an American Flag for a tie as was guitarist Jeff Winfield who was also very appreciative of my interest in their music and the group's life at the time. We talked for over an hour. This was the first real working band I'd ever spoken with and the impression they made on me was huge. I mean just think about that one song for a minute. The only other record that comes close to Walk Away Renee from that era in terms of its classic sonic originality would have to be A Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum.

Anyway, I got dozens of pictures with me and the guys whose average age was only about 19 but since I was just a young kid of 12, they seemed much older and cooler to me of course and their hip styles from New York City in our little Eaton’s catalog store were just incredible. Carnaby Street hip meets Broadway cool in the 60's.

UltraHip to the max of cool. Sadly my entire shoebox full of photos of me just hanging out with The Left Banke which had been tucked away for safekeeping were discovered in the attic at my parents house and were thrown out by my mother who figured that I wouldn't want them to be saved. This is an important and very special music memory of mine. Great hit songs and classic pop records were about the only thing that made my difficult life as a teenager bearable.

Just walk away Renee
You won’t see me follow you back home
Now as the rain beats down upon my weary eyes
For me, it cries…

My Friend: Jody Williams

2006-05-25T21:45:00.000-06:00

Important music business news announcement this week regarding my friend Jody Williams who has just been appointed Vice-President, Writer/Publisher Relations, BMI Nashville.

Read the Music Row item.

Jody will direct all writer/publisher relations activities for the US p.r.o. in BMI's Nashville office beginning May 30.

Jody Williams was the most passionate and dedicated advocate of my songwriting talent and hit potential in Nashville during his earlier tenure with BMI in the mid 80's when he worked as an associate director of writer/publisher relations. I was a new young writer exploring opportunities in Nashville at the major pro songwriting level after enjoying several big radio hits with my songs in Canada.

I earned a nomination for a Juno Award as Country Male Vocalist on the strength of those songs. The Juno is Canada's "Grammy" Award.

Jody Williams quickly became a true believer in supporting my goals as a professional Nashville songwriter and he personally introduced me to everybody who was anybody in the Nashville music business.

Jody's access to the very highest levels of the Nashville industry opened every door on Music Row for me in my efforts to secure a contract as a writer ultimately resulting in my signing a deal with Combine Music in October of 1987. I had considered a number of other publishers, but made my choice for Combine Music mainly because of the keen interest of legendary Combine CEO Bob Beckham who had helped revolutionize the songwriting business in Nashville by discovering, signing & successfully promoting the landmark songs of Kris Kristofferson who was my all time greatest Nashville influence.

A partial list of some heavy hitters whose access, interest and generous hours of time were accorded to me and my songs in those days because of Jody Williams include: Tony Brown, Martha Sharp, Mark Wright, Pat Higdon, Bob Beckham, Blake Chancey, Bob Doyle, Dennis Morgan, Susan Burns, Larry Hamby, David Conrad, Ree Guyer, Bob Montgomery, Al Cooley, Ralph Murphy, Karen Conrad, Walter Campbell, Pat Halper, Henry Hurt, Kevin Lamb and Larry Shell.

Just to mention a few.

Had it not been for Jody Williams, it's also likely I would never have met or hung out with such famous folks as Ricky Scaggs, Mel Tillis, George Jones, Marty Stuart, Mel McDaniel, Larry Gatlin, Steve Earle, Roseanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Shelby Lynn, Billy Dean, Mickey Gilley, Bill Monroe, Mickey Newbury, John Prine, Billy Joe Shaver, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, Chet Atkins, Bobby Bare, Tony Joe White, Tammy Wynette, Porter Wagoner, Del Reeves, Doug Sahm, Buck Owens, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, The Oaks, Lorrie Morgan, Kathy Mattea, Don Henry, John Vezner, Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen Jr., Alan Rhody, Nigel Olsen, Larry Butler, T. Graham Brown, Emmy Lou Harris, Vern Gosdin, Harlan Howard, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, and many others.

Again, just to mention a few. I've met other great songwriters and artists in my life before and after Nashville, such as June & Johnny Cash, Hank Snow, Carl Perkins, Gordon Lightfoot, Jose Feliciano, Gino Vanelli, Bruce Cockburn and others, but Nashville is a whole different arena in which to connect with songwriters and artists.

Which brings me back to Jody Williams who played no small part in ensuring that the Nashville music industry community extended its full welcome to me as a professional. I was honored and grateful then and I'm proud today to say thanks to my friend: Jody Williams.

Congratulations Jody! All the very best in your new position at BMI and our very best also to Karen and your sons, Driver and Edward.

Talking Points: Here's a few of my personal Jody Williams quotes:

"Frank Trainor is a great singer with great songs. He is also my friend and a true gentleman in every sense of the word." - JW

"A publisher can only hope to find a writer as unique as Frank Trainor" - [Jody recommending me as a professional songwriter]

"Frank Trainor...if you ever write a book I'll buy it" - [Jody replying to my insights regarding his artist & writer discovery Josh Turner’s big hit song called Long Black Train]

Spotlight: For reasons that should be obvious, today’s spotlight is on Kris Kristofferson who wrote many great and groundbreaking songs including one I related to when there was really nothin' left to lose Shipwrecked In The Eighties …but hell, I was born to float ‘cause it ain’t the time to learn how to swim when the tide comes rushin’ in

Digital Downloads, Decoding Da Vinci, The Arrogance Of Excellence & Folk Right Off

2006-05-21T01:46:00.000-06:00

Guardian Unlimited in the UK features a special report this week on legal downloading of digital music from sites that respect the rights of songwriters & artists in this growing new realm of music industry. Integral to my own music and business interests is the fact that this special report features links and important information on some of the major players currently populating the worldwide digital music download business. Among those download sites represented in the Guardian article are Audio Lunchbox, Sony Connect and eMusic, all of which feature my three available CD's and single songs for purchase.

Downloading Frank Trainor Songs and CD'S Via FRANKtalk
For those of you new to FRANKtalk I invite you to visit my associate music download sites as represented at my InDepth Links sidebar section of this page where my CD's [and single songs] are currently all available through these following worldwide digital download sites: Audio LunchBox, Sony Connect, ItsAboutMusic, Groupie Tunes, eMusic, Sandbar and also coming soon to Amazon and MP3.com!

ItsAboutMusic is my digital distribution record label partner and publishing associate and is responsible for promotions to all major download sites & cool Internet radio programming around the globe. It's a whole new world of music business these days and of course we are still in very early times, but my music is now being picked up at an increasing rate by more of these major digital download sites.

So, thank you all for your appreciation of my songs and for your purchases of my music around the world through these great sites.

DeCoding Da Vinci
As a Catholic I cannot be completely unaffected by the current hype surrounding the abomination known as The Da Vinci Code. However, it is difficult for me personally to raise this ridiculous fairy tale to any level of serious concern based as it is on wholesale fictions, fabrications, untruths, deceits, myths, improbable conspiracy theories and occultist propaganda. It’s a good thing there were no slanderous attacks on Islam or The Prophet in this fluff or there would have been some heads cut off and theatres torched by now.

It's amazing to me how restrained we Catholics are in the face of pure evil's purposes in the deconstruction of our religious beliefs and deep spiritual values. I should think that fact alone would make obvious to anyone the true strength of Divine foundations created to withstand evil and to prevail against the most destructive powers of hell for all eternity. We are not indifferent to offense. We suffer it.

That to me is a faith and a Church worth believing in even if it occasionally requires some defense other than God's own justice.

The chickens are already coming home to roost for our western civilization and they are sitting in full egg dropping position as regards The Da Vinci Code. Amen. But still, we must pray for our enemies. Love conquers everything. Nothing trumps the Truth.

We'll let the critics take the hindmost in this case and shrug a slight movement of our shoulders towards those whose job it is to pithily comment on such current cultural events even though they verge on the reflexive requirement of universal condemnation in response.

I will never view The Da Vinci Code for the same reasons I would not subject my soul to the mortal sin of The Last Temptation Of Christ.

Both movies are blasphemous attacks on The Holy Catholic Church, The Divinity of Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit.

They offend God and all humanity in their cheapness and degradation of The Divine Grace. And they exist for no other purpose but money.

When the heathen money changers get this close to the temple they ought to be driven out with whips, chains and a few cat o’ nine tails.

In light of the movie's stunningly bad reviews and notwithstanding the expected opening week-end box office bonanza hoopla it will undoubtedly experience, you can be rest assured that this vapid, over hyped, superficial cultural travesty will recede to its proper vestigial irrelevance on its way to ultimately occupying the well worn ubiquitous "point of purchase" dustbins of mediocrity at Blockbuster.

Here’s a few links to informed journalistic perspectives on this issue.

Michael Coren's Toronto Sun Column: Da Vinci Code: A Disgrace

MacLean’s.ca The Da Vinci Code: [bad writing for Biblical illiterates]

Pat Buchanan / Whose God May We Mock this is an important piece

The War Room Nicol DuMoulin’s ruminations on Pat Buchanan's piece

I condemn The Da Vinci Code. That’s my clear & unequivocal stand.

Otherwise I’m listening to Jethro Tull and The Allman Brothers Band.

Beyond this, I've got Nothing To Say

'Cause it just ain't my Cross To Bear

Talking Points: Recent comments made about Frank Trainor “Conservative artists tend to be incognito as they "live" and do business in a liberal world & culture. However, that being said, this one decided it's best to be himself, the thought being he would attract his fanbase better, or have a more "open mind" to different ideas if they liked his music. I consider music an art.” [Crusader]

Well, my sincere thanks to The Crusader for those kind words and the recommendation at Free Dominion. It's true, I make no apologies for my Catholic faith, my philosophical conservatism or my prerogatives as a free human being in any respect. Why should I? My talents are true gifts of love from God. Any who reject me don't have a prayer.

Some might mistake such assertiveness and bold confidence for arrogance...not at all...arrogance is based on underlying insecurity whereas certainty and confidence are based on skill and excellence. You might call my confidence "the arrogance of excellence" as my old friend Spero Bassil used to say...heh, heh...what ever you choose to call it; excellence doesn't shrink from mediocrity or political threats.

The mediocre and the politically correct crowd are always fearful of higher purposed spiritual energy that is freely soul giving.

To hell with the crowd. What has the crowd ever done for you?

Which leads me to this little item from The Medicine Hat Folk Club
It's Martha Wainwright's Party And She'll Swear If She Wants To So Conservative Fans With Family Values Can Just "Folk Right Off"

A tip of the fedora to the Medicine Hat Folk Club for expressing its dissatisfaction with cheap vulgarity & relativistic postulating against conservatives and family values in folk music circles. It's good to see that not all folk network allies in music are required or willing to be debased in either their own meaningful purposes or their commercial interests by a few spoiled gutter acts who don't know the difference between low-brow juvenile selfishness and professional decorum.

Spotlight: Our spotlight feature this week is The Iconoclast. You can find The Iconoclast linked at my Scribes & Illuminators sidebar scroll. Check out the photo funnies page. It's hilarious.

In The Madness Of Sanity

2006-05-09T21:22:00.000-06:00

In the madness of sanity, John, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, half-naked, hair-shirted, speaks with the voice of the Desert Flame who allows the grass to wither and demands that men bear the weight they’ve given, in pride and deeds, their names.

“Prepare the way. For what is close at hand, burns.” And the people, convicted, edge in a mass toward the bar. The Baptist would drown each man again and again, until, in death, the last deception goes down, and this sin, our daily bread, is exposed: a food that starves, a meal that feeds itself. When I hear, I fast, am wracked and led to a desert scored with tiresome habits and needs. To kill this self, I need to raze it seems: each carefully vaulted wall, each decentered beam.

Let my violence offend the world and its superficial dream.

COPYRIGHT 2001 The Christian Century Foundation [with apologies to David Craig] COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group

More From The Sanity Zone….
What Athenian vantage point is this perchance...?

Let Freedom Reign!
Richard Evans at Let Freedom Reign! [formerly known as the blogsite Cannuckistan Chronicles] has a great post up [May8] illuminating the scope of a book first published in 1958 called the Naked Communist. We need to read material like this to understand what has always been at stake in our western civilized democracies. The objectives have never changed for the anti-freedom forces in the world who appear in history under various guises as Marxist-Leninist, socialists, secular humanists, radical feminists, Islamofacists, NDP, Liberals...?Pierre Trudeau, The Walrus, Maude Barlow, Naiomi Klein & more.

Here's a portion of Richard's post....

The Conservative Reclaimation of North America 1
This is what the lib-left has been working on over the past 6 or 7 decades: Way back in 1958 a fella named W. Cleon Skousen wrote a book called the Naked Communist. In that book he stated 45 declared goals for the communist takeover of America. I haven't read the book but I have read the stated goals. Let’s have a look at some of them and see how they've done so far. Please bear in mind that terms "America" or "US" can be meant to mean "North America" or can be replaced with "Canada" and still have the same effect. Oh, and because we're nice Canadians let’s call them "Socialists" instead of "Communists”…[read the rest of the blog post here].

Let Freedom Reign! is noteworthy today also [May 9] for its classic pedophile/moonbat psycho comments diatribe & spaz email feature which Richard has amusingly frontpaged at his site under HolyCrap!

Commies AND Moonbats...!! Really great stuff....very important and also highly entertaining too Richard. Keep on fighting the good fight.

Thanks to Richard Evans for adding FRANKtalk to his new LFR blog.

You'll find FRANKtalk linked in Favorite Sites @ Let Freedom Reign!

How Democracies Perish
And speaking of truthfully calling a communist spade a hammer and sickle, a very famous and brilliant man named Jean-Francois Revel died last week. Revel was a French newspaper editor and author who was regarded very highly in intellectual circles in France. My eyes became opened wide to the reality of the true communist threat to our western hemisphere by reading Revel's now long out of print book “How Democracies Perish” more than twenty years ago.

Here's an obit link. We need to hear Jean-Francois Revel today.

I'm personally not an optimist regarding the world in any event. I've seen too much and lived too far outside my sangfroid comfort zones.

Bob Dylan summed it up best...this world can't stand long.

Talking Points: Jean-Francois Revel was a free spirit whose works trace a singular, fertile and indispensable path. That's not only a great way for a man to have lived and created, it's a truly great and noble way to die. We should all be so fully alive when we kick it.

Spotlight: The spotlight this week is on our brand new InDepth Links addition Groupie Tunes which is now promoting my most recent CD Grace & Gravity which is available at GT via ringtones & downloads.

Isis

2006-05-05T01:02:00.000-06:00

I married Isis on the 5th day of May,
But I could not hold on to her very long.
So I cut off my hair and I rode straight away
For the wild unknown country where I could not go wrong.

I came to a high place of darkness and light.
The dividing line ran through the center of town.
I hitched up my pony to a post on the right;
Went in to a laundry to wash my clothes down.

A man in the corner approached me for a match.
I knew right away he was not ordinary.
He said, "Are you lookin' for somethin' easy to catch?"
I said, "I got no money." He said, "That ain't necessary."

We set out that night for the cold in the North.
I gave him my blanket; he gave me his word.
I said, "Where are we goin'?" He said we'd be back by the 4th.
I said, "That's the best news that I've ever heard."

I was thinkin' about turquoise, I was thinkin' about gold,
I was thinkin' about diamonds and the world's biggest necklace.
As we rode through the canyons, through the devilish cold,
I was thinkin' about Isis, how she thought I was so reckless.

How she told me that one day we would meet up again,
And things would be different the next time we wed,
If I only could hang on and just be her friend.
I still can't remember all the best things she said.

We came to the pyramids all embedded in ice.
He said, "There's a body I'm tryin' to find.
If I carry it out it'll bring a good price."
'Twas then that I knew what he had on his mind.

The wind it was howlin' and the snow was outrageous.
We chopped through the night & we chopped through the dawn.
When he died I was hopin' that it wasn't contagious,
But I made up my mind that I had to go on.

I broke into the tomb, but the casket was empty.
There was no jewels, no nothin', I felt I'd been had.
When I saw that my partner was just bein' friendly,
When I took up his offer I must-a been mad.

I picked up his body and I dragged him inside,
Threw him down in the hole and I put back the cover.
I said a quick prayer then I felt satisfied.
Then I rode back to find Isis just to tell her I love her.

She was there in the meadow where the creek used to rise.
Blinded by sleep and in need of a bed,
I came in from the East with the sun in my eyes.
I cursed her one time then I rode on ahead.

She said, "Where ya been?" I said, "No place special."
She said, "You look different." I said, "Well, I guess."
She said, "You been gone." I said, "That's only natural."
She said, "You gonna stay?" I said, "If you want me to, yes."

Isis, oh, Isis, you mystical child.
What drives me to you is what drives me insane.
I still can remember the way that you smiled,
On the 5th day of May in the drizzlin' rain.

Bob Dylan & Jacques Levy
Copyright © 1975 Ram's Horn Music
From the Columbia album Desire [Bob Dylan]

Death By A Thousand Cuts

2006-04-20T22:30:00.000-06:00

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench... a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.” - Hunter S. Thompson

WARNING: This blog site contains InDepth material that could be intellectually challenging and potentially alarming to individuals without ears or creative imaginations. Viewer discretion is advised.

When Dollars And Cents Meet Heart And Soul
The Cost Of Dedication In The Music Industry

“Your Money or Your Loyalty”
The music industry, in decline and disgrace, like many others today, faces almost certain implosion if it continues on its path to self-destruction. Global music sales decline consecutively, year after year. Record labels point to illegal file sharing as a reason for falling revenue. Other possible factors for the deterioration include decreased disposable household income and a rise in video music and games sales. Simply put, the post-recession financial rewards that many businesses now reap aren’t being realized in the music business. Therefore, the leaders in this industry must examine their driving corporate values. [Read the Music Dish article]

The monolithic music industry and vapid terrestrial radio are dead

Meanwhile...he not busy being born is busy dying...

I recall something my friend JGP once said about my songs

Now how did that go again...?

He said they’re ..."from the heart...of the mind...and for the soul"

So...without further ado...FRANKtalk proudly presents

Theatre-Of-The-Mind

www.xmradio.com/bobdylan/

You can read all about how Bob Dylan was inspired to create this historic and totally cool new show by checking out Lee Abrams Blog

Lee Abrams is the XM Radio Exec who pitched the show to Dylan

Something is happening here Mr. Jones so for more perspective on the ultra hip cool factor aka Bob Dylan dig these SF Gate photos

Here at FRANKtalk it is highly recommended that everyone ought to subscribe to great songs, true artists and authentic radio

The only kind of radio worth listening to these days

Talking Points: A truly historic Bob Dylan album was released on Sept.11/01 called Love And Theft. It quickly became an instant classic taking its place among the very best of Bob’s records. Of course, its release was completely overshadowed on that fateful date in American history, but it received rave reviews everywhere. The final song on that CD is called Sugar Baby and it is surely fitting as a dénouement on that album. But it is also fitting in this context as Bob now brings his personal music library to his XM Radio Show.

Spotlight: Right Wing Bob has a scoop on early reports from the new Bob Dylan Show so check it out as part of your Bob as radio host discovery. Here's the permalink for easy future reference. Right Wing Bob is featured in my Scribes & Illuminators sidebar scroll section at the right side of this page...as RWB should be.

The Blindness of Modern Man

2006-04-14T01:43:00.000-06:00

The Church: "Dying, We Live" (2 Cor 2:9)
This is the final fact, and it is the most extraordinary of all. The faith has not only often died but it has often died of old age. It has not only been often killed but it has often died a natural death; in the sense of coming to a natural and necessary end.

It is obvious that it has survived the most savage and the most universal persecutions from the shock of the Diocletian fury to the shock of the French Revolution. But it has a more strange and even a more weird tenacity; it has survived not only war but peace. It has not only died often but degenerated often and decayed often; it has survived its own weakness and even its own surrender…read more.

The Mind Of Modern Man
The mind of modern man is a curious mixture of decayed Calvinism and diluted Buddhism; and he expresses his philosophy without knowing that he holds it. We [i.e. Catholics] say what it is natural for us to say; but we know what we are saying; therefore it is assumed that we are saying it for effect. He says what it is natural for him to say; but he does not know what he is saying, still less why he is saying it. He is just as partisan; . . . just as much depending on one doctrinal system as distinct from another. But he has taken it for granted so often that he has forgotten what it is. So his literature does not seem to him partisan, even when it is.

But our literature seems to him propagandist, even when it isn't.

- G.K. Chesterton

Two important items this Easter weekend include Pope Bendict XVI who has delivered a blistering attack on the “satanic” mores of modern society today, warning against an “inane apologia of evil” that is in danger of destroying humanity. Read the article here.

Equally important and newsworthy reading this Easter weekend is Mark Steyn's brilliant and much lauded City Journal article called Facing Down Iran …our lives depend upon it. This is absolutely essential reading if you are concerned at all for the future of our foundational culture within the atrophying structures of our rapidly decaying, disgustingly debased, superficial, western civilization.

Mark Steyn is indispensable to the journalistic culture of the free world. One the finest & most prolific writers in the English language.

Talking Points: I wish to thank Stephen Hand for his kind mention and linkage recently in his musings section at his TCR website. It's always nice to be appreciated by others who also happen to be ardent admirers of Bob Dylan. As a true philosophical conservative however I'm about 180 degrees apart from Stephen's own personal and religious politics but as Catholics we can certainly share in the spirit of our late beloved Pope John XXIII who reminded us all years ago as God's children to seek that which unites rather than what divides.

Spotlight: I've been meaning to spotlight a wonderful Catholic site for some time now called Pro Ecclesia which happens to be one of my reciprocal sidebar links. Jay Anderson’s Pro Ecclesia site has always impressed me with it's very high caliber content and writing and I recommend it highly as a beautiful and well organized Catholic site that I'm sure you will enjoy reading and coming back to often.

James Gang Rides Again

2006-04-07T21:49:00.000-06:00

In my previous post I noted that Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard have hooked up once again for several dates together this season and it reminded me of my very first FRANKtalk blog post of June 22, 2005. That initial post Icons and Legends was about a TV special from LA that I happened to catch around that time featuring Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard along with a host of other performers.

Bob and Merle had just wrapped up their first time ever co-billed tour together while Willie & Bob were just newly embarked on their 2nd consecutive season of touring minor league ball parks. In my debut blog piece, I related my enthusiasm for another of the performers on that TV special. The Eagles guitarist, Joe Walsh who happens to be one of my favorite rock musicians. As Kris Kristofferson would say, Joe Walsh finally beat the devil and still drank his beer for nothin'. Well, believe it or not, sober Joe's former group The James Gang are about to get BACK TOGETHER to tour again after 35 years.

Check this out jamesgangridesagain.com.

Here's the permalink for The James Gang item from Rock Philes.

Rock Philes is a cool new site run by an experienced music business publicist who also happens to be a singer/songwriter.

The James Gang was our collective introduction to Joe Walsh and his unique character as a rock guitarist. Remember "Walk Away"...?

Joe Walsh expresses his soul as a rock guitarist in a unique style that is not dissimilar in its overall effect to the bold distinctions created by players such as Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. Joe Walsh is as a solid and creative a guitar player as anyone who has ever wielded an axe.

You always know its Joe Walsh when you hear him play. There's no mistaking his individual stamp on a particular lick or phrase voicing.

I've heard Joe play with The Eagles back in the mid 70's when he was still new to that band and although he always filled his space within The Eagles California folk/rock/country sound, his sonic rock spirit eventually took much deeper root within the group to create his own "niche" in The Eagles music. After all, this is the same Joe Walsh of The Smoker You Drink The Player You Get and Rocky Mountain Way. Joe's been with The Eagles for 30 years and always worked especially well with those guys. Don Felder is no longer with The Eagles but Don and Joe played the great "double lead parts" on Hotel California.

Dual lead guitar magic did not originate with The Eagles of course as The Allman Brothers, Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers all made significant marks in that department long ago, but Felder and Walsh were really tight and dynamic together as lead guitarists in tandem.

Speaking of Haggard & Dylan, RWB features an item this week called Haggard On Dylan. It seems even the great Merle Haggard is completely mystified by the enigmatic nature of his tour co-star.

Seems that Dylan is a bit of a loner on the road and not very sociable with Merle or anybody else apparently. A stranger to himself and not at all like Frankie Lee and Judas Priest who were the best of friends.

Speaking of Judas, as many in the world are as a result of the recent Gnostic Gospel of Judas revelations, Right Wing Bob has all the bases solidly covered in his post today. Read it. The truth will set you free.

Bob Dylan however is preoccupied beyond the tour stage.

With what..? Nobody knows. Not even Merle Haggard.

It’s a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!

But Hag should understand that's just how it is with Bob Dylan.

Bob is Cold Irons Bound and its Not Dark Yet...but its gettin there.

He's just tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door.

After all, he not busy being born is busy dying.

And though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only peoples games that you got to dodge

It's alright Merle...he can make it.

Talking Points: Another new site to recommend: The Spirit Of Man features a 30 minute mp3 interview with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. I've been a Jethro Tull fan since the days of Stand Up and Benefit.

Finally, here’s an illuminating mp3 overview on Canadian copyright with intellectual property maverick Michael Geist who is upsetting more than a few copyright monopoly applecarts these days with his radical "creative commons" views and alternative copyright ideas.

As Bob Dylan the mysterious enigmatic loner once riddled…name me someone who's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him.

I'll say a prayer for Michael Geist.

Down The Highway

2006-04-02T20:52:00.000-06:00

So, I'm a-walkin' down your highway
Just as far as my poor eyes can see.
Yes, I'm a-walkin' down your highway
Just as far as my eyes can see
From the Golden Gate Bridge
All the way to the Statue of Liberty

"Down The Highway" written by Bob Dylan
From the Columbia album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan"
Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Bob Dylan kicked off his Spring 06 tour this weekend in Reno Nevada. The schedule features Bob Dylan and his Band also hooking up for several shows with Merle Haggard and The Strangers at various points of intersection down the highway in a repeat of last years successful co-billing of Dylan and The Hag.

Bob Dylan turns 65 on May 24th.

He's younger than that now.

Check in daily with Right Wing Bob and Expecting Rain for tour notes, relevant links and of course the always interesting nightly set lists.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm thinking of linking many post items today. Not to cut myself too much slack, but I've really been juggling a lot lately...well it's true...just look here for yourself. As I’m sure you can appreciate, the "B" side of The Beatles Abbey Road [or as it's better known...Paul McCartney's first solo album] is a very long and winding road and seeing as how I've had to carry that weight without many golden slumbers this week, I figure it won't be the end to simply mail one in here just for a change of pace.

Birthday blessings for Emmylou Harris this week includes a touching Powerline piece recalling her Gram Parsons tribute Prayer In Open D.

TALKING POINTS: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick that the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

And poof. Just like that, he's gone.- Verbal Kint

American Music Legend Buck Owens

2006-03-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

The passing of American Music Legend Buck Owens brings back some powerful memories from my Nashville songwriter years not only in relation to my meeting the great Buck Owens himself at one point, but in relation also to so many other legendary artists, musicians and professional songwriters that I met and got to know on Music Row.

Thinking about one photo of me with Chet Atkins and Jethro Burns, I'm asking myself now why I didn't get Buck in the picture with us as he was standing right beside us just out of camera range talking with Harlan Howard as that 1988 photo was being taken. There were in fact many famous music industry people at that particular event [Harlan Howard’s birthday bash] and it might have seemed that I could get Buck's photo any old time whereas Chet was more reclusive by this point so seeing him out and about on Music Row was a rarity.

The big deal was getting my picture taken with Chet Atkins and his also famous brother-in-law Jethro Burns who also happened to be another rare figure around Music Row in those years. Indeed, The Oak Ridge Boys table was set up right beside ours [SBK/Combine] and I didn't get photos of them either because...well...they were around our office and around everywhere on Music Row in those days and for some reason they didn't seem to me like such a big deal at the time.

Certainly not as big a deal as Chet Atkins or Bill Monroe.

Harlan Howard of course wrote several of Buck Owens hit songs including the big smash hit I've Got A Tiger By The Tail. I got to know Harlan during my time in Nashville and I'm very grateful to have had that opportunity at the time since he too has now passed on.

Another legend who I'm sure will feel the loss of Buck Owens at this point in time is Merle Haggard who is currently warming up to go out on tour again with Bob Dylan. Bob and Merle did a tour together last year as well that brought out more than a few famous concert guests along the tour including Buck Owens who hung out backstage with Merle sharing songs and road stories. Buck surprised Bob Dylan with a gift one of his famous red, white and blue American Music guitars.

Bob Dylan with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens

Buck Owens was a great American music artist.

You don't hear unique individual spirits in music much anymore.

Merle plays a new Kris Kristofferson song for Buck

As Bob Dylan once said: Things Have Changed.

It reminds me of a song title of mine from Grace & Gravity

With deep respect for a true music legend

A Buck Is A Buck

Talking Points: Tom Spaulding pays tribute to Buck at his great music journey website called Caught Up In The Fable. Tom has worked with several artists such as John Fogerty. His Buck Owens piece includes a great video of Buck Owens and Don Rich performing I’ve Got A Tiger by The Tail. Check it out by pressing the play icon in the centre of the video frame below. And don't forget to turn it up!

Music Killers

2006-03-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

An edifying article by Michael Geist via Prime Minister.ca recently on who's really killing the music industry in Canada. Here's a hint, it isn't artists & songwriters or independent music publishers. We’re trying to promote music and create real new music business opportunities.

The music killers are the long entrenched copyright monopoly crowd and their accomplices in the mainstream media now undergoing the most serious challenges to their dominance since democracy itself.

Geist: “Moreover, if there is a problem with the Canadian online music market it is not the lack of anti-circumvention legislation but rather the debilitating effect of SOCAN, CMRRA, and the copyright collectives who are demanding at least 40 percent of the gross revenues of such services. As I wrote nearly a year ago, "the true threat to that future [the development of an economically viable download market] does not come from peer-to-peer downloads that is already subject to compensation through the private copying levy but rather from collectives that seem determined to receive a very large share of a very tiny market." The full effect of the collective cash grab is beginning to emerge as some music services have dropped out of Copyright Board proceedings. If the government really wants to address the online music market, addressing the copyright collective problem would be a good place to start.”

Read the whole thing here

It’s time to listen up songwriters and independent music publishers.

The truth will set you free. If you don't recognize where your own best interests and opportunities are, why should the business care.

The business has never cared about anything other than owning your collective rights towards their own interests as a monopoly industry.

We refer to that activity here at FRANKtalk as The Old In Out.

As a copyright creator, why should it be your obligation to fall into line with a rapidly dying structural model while embracing the uncertain life of indentured servitude to that monopoly's exclusive purposes and self-serving regulations for the rest of your mortal days [plus 50 or 70 years depending on your particular legal designation].

Need more proof of their collective desperation…?

Ok…this just in from mi2n

Hey Hey My My http://www.hyperrust.org/Music/?s125

Talking Points: Right Wing Bob references Dylan’s Property Of Jesus at his RWB site today…think I will too…

Lucky LeRoux Is Looking At You

2006-03-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

My incredible journey back to my hometown of Charlottetown PEI for our recent Songwriter Summit @ ECMA's events encompassed many nostalgic personal encounters which I never imagined happening at the outset of my trip. Naturally I presumed that I would run into old friends and a few relatives living there and obviously, with 4 days of ECMA events and festivities being held in Charlottetown this year, maybe some long lost acquaintances from around the Maritimes might surprise me. It wouldn't be PEI if that stuff didn't happen.

But I've been living "away" for more than 30 years so the prospects along those lines have diminished now to some degree and while there are still a few people with whom I can connect on a shared memory level of our days in the 70's there, they are getting to be fewer in number and beyond that many are scattered everywhere now and many more long remembered are dead. Too many it seems.

So imagine my surprise [on stage] after playing a song to a packed house at our Friday performance of The Songwriter Summit when a shadowy mysterious figure emerged from the darkness behind the spotlights shrouding our view of the audience to present me with a handwritten note that read "LUCKY LEROUX IS LOOKING AT YOU…!"

Now for those of you who are already familiar with my 1981 album The Comfort Sound Sessions you obviously know that name, but for many others who do not know it, Lucky LeRoux [Lucian Parkin] is a long revered musician/poet whose artistic soul and musical energy captivated me completely in the early 70's back in Charlottetown when I was first coming of age in my own awareness as a young songwriter/artist. Lucian's family had come to PEI from England and his parents both taught and performed music all their lives so the river of music ran very deep within his soul as it still does today.

The remarkable thing is that since writing and recording my song about him more than 25 years ago, I've hardly seen him except for one occasion in Toronto in the late 70's or early 80's when he passed through the Big Smoke on his way to a family wedding in Vancouver.

Other than that, I haven't seen Lucky LeRoux for many long years but of course I've often thought about him many times over the years wondering how he was doing and if he still played and performed. Indeed, that's what the song Lucky LeRoux is really all about. Lucky was a nickname that somebody [probably George Antoniak] hung on Lucian early on and of course his last name was LeRoux for years until he changed it for reasons known only to himself. He is now Lucian Parkin but for those of us who remember the years when we first established our spiritual connections to one another in song and creative music culture in Charlottetown in the very early 1970's, he'll always be known and remembered as Lucian “Lucky” LeRoux.

The shadowy, shrouded figure presenting the surprise note to me from beyond the stage lights turned out to be my long time friend and good friend of Lucian’s, Judy Cheverie. That was the best, Judy. Perhaps the coolest surprise anyone has ever sprung on me…EVER!

It was a wonderful, infinitely memorable reunion and one of the most incredible moments of my life to realize that Lucky was there with you in the audience enjoying our Songwriter Summit event.

Lucian was in town from Boston and was also performing as part of The Red Island Road Review Shows. I got to catch a set of his the next night and he and I also got together over the weekend to catch sets by former Troubadours Bonnie LeClair and Mike Mooney as well.

It was fantastic for all of us being together again after so long and getting to hear each other’s work as mature music artists. Amazing!

It's interesting to note here also that at the same time Lucian LeRoux was playing with George Antoniak in A Moment's Sunlight [later to become Storm], that a few Charlottetown based songwriters were also emerging to some prominence with cuts of their material by recording artists who helped create a real sense among us all that our stuff was happening and would continue to be perpetuated.

Those songwriters included Gene MacLellan whose major hits Snowbird and Put Your Hand In The Hand became international standards and Marty Reno who’s Uncle Dad & Auntie Mom became a hit for Cliff Edwards and The Bells. Also, Tom Gallant, who wrote a song that became a signature tune for George Hamilton IV called Down East Country. In that mix along with all these big icons and emerging influences among us was a local kid who scored a hit on RCA Records with a song called Our Lovin' Times by Canada's top country music group in those years, The Mercey Brothers.

Who was that kid…? Oh yeah, I remember…it was Frank Trainor.

Talking Points: Special thanks once again to Bob at Either Orr for his recent great review of my current CD Grace & Gravity at his blogsite. Very cool to have my work so respected and appreciated by Bob knowing that he is a real music fan and a songwriting aficionado.

Spotlight: In the spirit of some great and timeless music that I’m enjoying right now let me focus this week's spotlight on legendary songwriter Bert Russell Berns whose hits include songs Twist & Shout, Cry Baby, Piece Of My Heart & Here Comes The Night. See Bert Berns link at my Songwriters Gallery. You won't believe the hit songs and monster records this guy wrote and produced. Read his discography.

A Gathering Of Songwriters

2006-03-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, I think it's safe to say that it was not just seals and animal rights that attracted Paul McCartney to my hometown this past week for a visit. Since "Macca" is first and foremost a truly great songwriter, I believe that he simply experienced a soul connection to The Buzz we had created with our Songwriter Summit shows held in association with Close To The Coast and Sandbar Music throughout ECMA Week. Sir Paul probably flew in from Miami Beach BOAC but didn't get to sleep last night because he was unconsciously homing in on all the amazing songs, music, love and high flowing energy produced by our spirits.

All four nights of The Songwriter Summit were completely sold out and the event quickly established itself as the coolest buzz of the ECMA's attracting standing room only crowds, major name ECMA nominees, a few music stars and many international delegates.

I performed and hosted our premiere Songwriters Circle all 4 nights of The Songwriter Summit events and each night was a total blast.

The Songwriter Summit was an idea originally conceived and created with my music business associate Lloyd Doyle of Sandbar Music and is based upon our ongoing mutual desire to establish and promote a sustained professional focus and higher profile on songwriters by spotlighting the diverse music and influences of these wonderful performing songwriters and their culture in the Atlantic region.

Lloyd went to work constructing the architecture of our debut shows and designing the logistics of our events to coincide with the ECMA Showcases and trade show celebrations that were scheduled for Charlottetown this year. It certainly proved to be a major success.

All credit must go to Lloyd Doyle for his masterful implementation in securing the best venue and best talent for The Songwriter Summit drawing the very finest "cream of the crop" songwriters from around Eastern Canada to participate in our shows. Every one of them was amazing in their own energy and creative gifts as songwriters and musicians and a few of them just knocked me out with their talent.

I'll be profiling a number of these performing songwriters in the days and weeks ahead, but for the moment let me mention just a few of these artists who made the deepest impression on me personally.

Remember these names. You'll be hearing them in future.

Carmen Townsend, Rose Cousins, Catherine MacLellan, Jill Barber, Dave Carmichael and Mike Dixon [The Rattlesnakin' Daddies].

And look for rising new 17 year old singer/songwriting talent Meaghan Blanchard to solidly establish her own ground in future.

These talented young songwriter/artist/performers are simply stunning. Each one is also unique in their individual talents.

I was profoundly moved in my experience and appreciation of each one of them as were our appreciative audiences who gathered around us absolutely spellbound and amazed at the array of high quality music and great songs emanating from the Summit stage.

It was my honor and my absolute pleasure to be a part of our Songwriter Summit with such amazingly talented artists and I look forward beyond this fantastic debut event to creating magic on the road with these and other artists as we gather again at The Summit.

Talking Points: I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to everyone who participated in our shows and to all who contributed to the success of our Songwriter Summit events as well as to all of those amazing individuals who made my journey back to my hometown a very special homecoming of love, support, respect and appreciation. Believe me, the feeing is mutual.

Lloyd and Debbie Doyle, Frank Harding, Pat Deighan, Liam Corcoran [Two Hours Traffic], Mitch Schurman, James Phillips, Alicia Penney, Steve MacDougall [Slowcoaster], Carmen Townsend, Kevin Ryan, Meaghan Blanchard, Nikkie, Mike Dixon, Rose Cousins, Dan Currie, Catherine MacLellan, Mark Bragg, Matt Putnam [Nudie & The Turks], Jill Barber, Sherry Ryan, Jenn Grant, John Mullane [In Flight Safety], Dave Charmichael, Kristine Malpica, Chas & Christina, Judy Cheverie, Lucian Parkin [aka Lucky LeRoux] , Rita Watts, Barbara Jabour, Debbie & Alan Buchanan, Deanna and Ken Savage, Bonnie LeClair, Scott Parsons, Mike Mooney, Ellen Driscoll, Maureen Morrison, Ken Zakem, Tabatha MacDonald [Angels Restaurant], Firouz & Aghdasi Mastoureh [Linda's Cafe], George & Ken [Razors Inn], David Currie, Denise LaForte, Kathy & Barry Harrison, Dave Skinner, Paul Milner, Duncan McIntosh, Catherine McKinnon, Roland Beaulieu [PEI Music Awards], Sobers Music, Marie Cameron & Family, George & Dalal Dow, Garry Doyle & Dianne Bradley, Wayne Dunsford, Kevin O'Brien, ECMA Radio, Tim Trainor [Thomas & Elizabeth], Don MacDonald, Roger Bevin and staff [Quality Inn On The Hill], Wes Gallant and the great staff at the Piece A Cake, Chris Roumbanis [our sound tech], Millie Trainor [my mom], Ana Zbona, Judy MacLellan, Sally Cole, The Buzz, The Journal Pioneer, The Guardian, Sandbar & PEI Dept. of Community and Cultural Affairs & The PEI Music Awards Association.

Spotlight: Special thanks to my fellow Islander & friend Linda Durant at The Great Pumpkin for linking FRANKtalk to her wonderful site. Discover The Great Pumpkin in my Scribes & Illuminators sidebar. Thanks as well to Bob at Either Orr for his kind comments regarding my current CD Grace & Gravity. Glad you like it Bob. And speaking of albums, my heartfelt appreciation to my good friend Brett Berns in New York for sending me his personal tribute CD package of his Dad's music called Sloopy II Music Presents The Songs of Bert Russell Berns. Brett's father, Bert Berns, wrote and produced some of the most timeless classic pop/soul songs and hit records in rock music history including Twist and Shout, Piece Of My Heart, Hang On Sloopy, Cry Baby, Under The Boardwalk, Cry To Me, Here Comes The Night, Brown Eyed Girl, Midnight Special and many more amazing big hits. Bert Berns belongs in The Songwriters Hall of Fame & in The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Check out the incredible treasure trove of hit songs and records that Bert Berns wrote and produced and learn more about this musical pop/soul genius and his amazing legacy of contributions to the early years of pop/soul music. Also check out Universal Records compilation CD The Heart and Soul of Bert Berns.

I'm A Spirit Now: According to the news from Charlottetown today, Paul McCartney visited with The Judy MacLean dancers as part of his visitations within the local community. Judy MacLean is an old friend of ours who just happens to be the person who introduced me to my wife Linda 31 years ago. It was exactly 30 years ago that Linda and I took off together from PEI to discover our destiny in the wider world and we are still together today. Thank you Judy and thanks to you Paul McCartney for honoring our friend Judy MacLean. We're sure she'll remember your visit for a lifetime as Linda and I will remember our very first meeting through Judy also for a lifetime and beyond.

The Songwriter Summit

2006-02-09T22:58:00.000-07:00

Lots of items on the music business agenda lately with particular regard to my involvement later this month with Atlantic Canada's premiere music industry association activities and awards showcase happening Feb 23-27 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

The ECMA [East Coast Music Association] 4 day affair in my hometown will feature lots of great music and networking of course along with the ECMA awards show which will be hosted this year by The Trailer Park Boys and broadcast nationally on the CBC network.

Close To The Coast @The ECMA's in association with Sandbar Music will be sponsoring a very special feature into the musical mix of events this year with a great new songwriters gathering scheduled over 4 consecutive nights called The Songwriter Summit.

I have been invited to host as well as perform as a featured guest at all 4 nights of The Songwriter Summit and indeed I am very honored to say that I have accepted and that I am greatly looking forward to being a part of this premiere debut event which will be the first of many future songwriter events of its kind in Eastern Canada both at the ECMA's as a regular awards week showcase event and beyond.

There will be blog posts and update reports from Charlottetown throughout ECMA weekend as I navigate my way around my old hometown hooking up with old friends, new music business associates, fellow songwriters and maybe even a few surprises.

In the meantime, I just have to relate this...turned on the tube the other night to an old Saturday Night Live from the mid 70's and the musical guest was Chuck Berry playing Johnny B. Good complete with the Duck Walk ...turned then to the PBS Detroit channel showing an old Johnny Cash "Live from Tennessee State Prison" show with guests Roy Clark and Linda Ronstadt...now get this...I'm just coming from Chuck Berry and Johnny B. Good and suddenly I got J.R. Cash in his prime singing Folsom Prison Blues, Sunday Morning Comin' Down, Jacob Green, Hey Porter, The Orange Blossom Special and new song A Boy Named Sue, all within a half hour...then, Roy Clarke does his guitar thing which was always great...and voila...now here comes Linda Ronstadt belting out “Desperado”, “You're No Good”, “I'd Give Anything To See You Again” & “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”.

Seriously, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. I don't know about you, but I haven't seen or heard that much great classic music and songs on regular TV all at once since PBS showed No Direction Home. Afterward, a quick channel switch also brought Allison Kraus and Union Station to the evenings enjoyment. Man, I’m tellin’ ya, maybe I oughta watch more TV...I had no idea things were this good lately.

Linda Ronstadt's segment reminded me of a great Kris Kristofferson story actually which you'll get to hear about right here at FRANKtalk. I was a signed writer at Combine Music after all so Kris Kristofferson stories are well known to me…hell, I signed my songwriter contract with Combine Music in Kris’s office…anyway, when Kristofferson was just breaking as an artist/songwriter, his manager asked him if he'd like to open for Linda Ronstadt at The Troubadour in Los Angeles.

Kristofferson, obviously well acquainted with Linda Rondstadt’s album Silk Purse, replied, “…is that some kind of a trick question…”

Indeed!

Talking Points: My thanks to Kate at small dead animals for adding FRANKtalk to her blog site recently. I am very proud to be linked at SDA where you'll find my link under Kate's "Yanks, Mostly" blog roll. The worm has turned also, as this latest link add has now evolved my TTLB status to that of a Crunchy Crustacean. This may in fact mean that I'll eventually have to feature a "Lobster Roll" here at FRANKtalk instead of just a blog roll. The nice thing is that just like Mike Duffy, I too am from Prince Edward Island originally so that would not be a problem and indeed it might just be a pretty cool blog innovation.

On a more serious note, several major political stories have been resonating in the culture lately both at home and abroad so you'll want to stay informed via the most balanced and reliable sources of news information and commentary regarding all of the big issues.

Daily-recommended blog reads are Neale News, Bourque Newswatch, Drudge, small dead animals and Angry In The Great White North.

Spotlight: A brand new feature to announce here at FRANKtalk. Spotlight will focus on a particular blog link or linked item from my sidebar sections as the muse strikes. My six sidebar sections are all arranged in descending order as InDepth Links, Songwriters Gallery, Scribes and Illuminators, Grace & Gravity, I'm A Spirit Now & The Box

This weeks Spotlight is on The Lost Beatles, which can be found under the Grace & Gravity "cosmos" section. The Lost Beatles is a rare listen inside recently unearthed recording sessions capturing performances by the greatest little rock 'n roll band of all time.

Hope you enjoy!

Frank